When It Rains
by November Rising
Summary: When you accidently blow up half your school with a hurricane, you know you aren't normal.
1. I

GRAMMATICAL ERRORS ARE NOW FIXED.

**And off we go.**

**Note: I don't usually write in first-person, so bear (bare?) with me. **

**Sorry if the spelling is slightly…off. I have to type this out on my iPod. I miss my laptop. :'(**

**This is going to be one hell of a long chapter for me, I hope. I also hope I haven't created a Gary-Stu. DX**

**Title:**** Oh Dear**

**Summary:**** When you accidently blow up half your school with a hurricane, you know you aren't normal.**

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* * *

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I stared at the reflection in the mirror, frowning. The rest of my hair was fine, but one strand refused to stay in place. After tugging it for a minute, I started to feel damn stupid, and gave up, striding out of the house, the strand of hair still sticking obstinately out of my forehead.

Of course, with my luck, it started to rain. Should've taken the car. Wrapping my arms around my self, I thanked all Gods that may or may not exist that I didn't live far from the school. Besides, I thought, ever the optimist, at least I don't hate rain...

You may be wondering who I am, what I look like, or even what gender I am. My name is Jakob Cilliani. I hate my last name. With a passion. Obviously, I'm male. Have you ever met a girl with the name Jakob? I am just taller then average, a couple of inches shorter then six feet, with black hair which usually hangs straight until the nape of my neck, where it curls slightly. However, it's now plastered to my head, giving me an appearance I liken to a drowned rat.

Damn rain.

I thought it wasn't meant to rain in Australia. That it was meant to be like, always hot and dry, droughts and stuff like that. Evidently not. In the two years I've been here, I swear it's rained more then it hasn't. It's like I have my own personal storm system following me. According to the people who've lived here longer, it wasn't always like this. Apparently, they were in the midst of a drought. I come, and it starts to rain. Continuously. Australia's now probably the rainiest place in the world. (How do you like 'dem apples, Edward?)

The sky was still a bruised grey colour when I walked through the gate, but it had at least stopped raining. I was soaked through, but oh well. The bell, a nasally whining sound that sometimes gave me a headache, sounded, as the teenagers who had taking shelter under trees and covered areas dashed into the classrooms.

Shaking my head just outside the door of the room, kind of like a dog, I expelled the excess water and walking into the warmer classroom.

* * *

Travelling under the ocean in a large bubble of air is creepy. Annabeth leaned back in her bubble chair and tried not to think too much about the millions of litres of waters around her. Oops. Too late. She sat gingerly, holding herself still, not trusting Percy when he said that it wouldn't burst.

Said boyfriend was lying on a bubble-bed, eyes closed, snoring. The bubble sped along on its own accord, safe passage granted by Poseidon.

With her eyes still closed, Annabeth thought back to the conversation that had led her to enter this disturbing form of transport at the Long Island Sound, eight hours ago. It was by far the safest way to travel to Australia, safe passage guaranteed. And not many monsters lived in the bottom of the ocean.

_Chiron had called them to the Big House early in the morning. Annabeth, who was used to getting up early in the morning, was the only one properly awake. Nico was dozing in a chair, snoring softly, and while Percy's eyes were open, they were glazed, like he wasn't actually seeing anything._

"_Thanks for coming here, so early," Chiron said, rolling into the room in wheelchair form. Annabeth nodded, Percy grunted, and Nico didn't say anything at all. _

"_The satyr's have found another demigod," he continued, his eyes resting on Annabeth. "They don't know about this one. He smells…different. They know he is certainly quite powerful. Possibly a child of the big three."_

"_So I'm guessing you Nico, Percy and I to go find this person," Annabeth asked. _I hope he's not in 'Frisco.

"_I'm awake!" Nico said, bolting upright._

_Chiron forced down the urge to roll his eyes._

"_Correct, but this person isn't in the country. Actually, he's over the other side of the world."_

"_Where?"_

"_Australia."_

_Nico whistled slightly. True, it was far away, but Annabeth had always wanted to go to Australia, anyway…_

"_When do we leave?" she asked Chiron._

_He pursed his lips. "At midday."_

_She nodded, and then went over to Percy, whose eyes were now closed, and tried to wake him. It didn't work. _

"_Just leave him there," Chiron said, as she readied to kick him. "We'll wake him later."_

_She shrugged. "C'mon, Nico." _

_And with that, she walked back to the Athena cabin, and lay down in bed, falling back asleep._

_At the much more decent time of nine, the alarm clock woke her. Hastily throwing on some clothes, she packed weapons, clothing, books on architecture and the small celestial bronze knife that Luke had given her._

_She opened the door and came face to face with Nico, who had his fist poised to knock._

"_Oh, good. You're up." His tone was brisk and he looked a lot more lively then he had three hours ago. "Chiron wants us down by the beach." _

"_Let's go then." _

_Together, the two walked down to the beach, past the barbecue pit, the dining pavilion, and past the target range where some Apollo kid was shooting arrows into a target and then into the forest._

_Finally, the trees thinned out and they found themselves on the beach, which was deserted save for Chiron and Percy. And there, splashing in the waves was Mrs. O'Leary._

"_AROOF."The hellhound bounded out of the surf and knocked Nico into the sand._

"_Oof," he said, spitting out a mouthful of sand, "Get off of me, you dumb hellhound."_

_Rolling out from underneath her, he turned around._

"_Well?" he said. "Can I get going?"_

"_Yes, Nico. Just be careful." _

_Nico grinned, white teeth flashing against his olive skin. "Aren't I always?"_

_Using the shadow that Mrs. O'Leary cast, he bent the darkness into a doorway, disappearing into the shadow. _

"_So, how are we getting there?" Annabeth asked Chiron._

_It was Percy who answered. "Through the ocean."_

"_How?"_

_He didn't answering, instead grasping her hand. Annabeth tried to ignore the jolt of electricity that leaped up her arm. Still holding her hand, he wadded out into the surf._

_When the waves were at waist height, he let go, starting to swim. _

"_Follow me," he called back to her._

_They swam until Annabeth could no longer touch the bottom. From here, Percy dove into the Sound, pulling Annabeth down with him. They sank a couple of meters until it got dark and Annabeth started to find it hard to breathe. At that point, Percy spread his arms, and a multitude of bubbles travelled from the surface, swarming around and merging into a gigantic bubble. Finally not able to take it any longer, Annabeth breathed in, finding only air. More bubbles joined as the main one became bigger and bigger._

"_Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded._

And that was how they came to be at the bottom of the Atlantic, headed to another country on the other side of the world.

Annabeth sighed, and wished she could have gone with Nico. It would have been less creepy. Slightly.

* * *

The first class of the morning was Maths. I was actually kind of good at Maths. At least, the equations didn't float off the page too much. Certainly, I liked it better then English. At least in Maths there is only one right answer.

It finished pretty quickly, and after we were given homework and the bell rang, I hurried through the halls to the next class, which happened to be history. This one, I liked much better then most subjects, except for P.E.

When I plonked myself down in the back row, bag dropped to the floor, I looked to the front of the class. I was one of the last there, as most of the seats were filled. However the teacher had yet to arrive.

Have you been to school recently? If you have, then you'd know what a class of thirty sixteen-year-olds are like when they are left alone. Paper planes flew through the air, people poked each other with pencils, and girls giggled and talked at texted on their phones.

I, meanwhile, put my head on my arms and tried to block out the noise. The constant patter of rain in the background was making me sleepy.

"Alright, that's enough," an unfamiliar and female voice rang out over the general hubbub in the class. I lifted my head from my hands and peered with interest at the teacher.

She was tall, and athletic looking, with a deep tan and blonde hair. She was pretty, and had very intense looking grey eyes, slightly lighter then my own. She only looked slightly older then we did. Under her arm was a silver laptop, a Greek symbol inscribed on the lid.

"My name is Miss. Chase," she said, in a brisk tone, setting the laptop down on the table. "You can call me Miss. Chase." Her lips quirked.

"It appears that your other teacher has fallen ill, and the school has seen fit to call me in as a replacement." She had an American accent, but it wasn't as annoying as the ones I heard from Americans on T.V. I had lived all my life in Manhattan, until a couple of years ago, and it was curious now to hear someone with the accent I probably had when I first arrived.

She said a couple more things, and then instructed us to open the thick textbook we always had to carry to class, but never used.

"What do you know of the Greek Gods?" she asked. "You, in the back, the one with black hair."

_Crap, that's me. _"Err, they were Gods?" There were some snickers around me. "They lived on Mount Olympus, and only came down to, like, hook-up with mortals?" I said.

"Yes, you're correct Mr…?"

"Cilliani."

"Mr. Cilliani."

She explained to us about the gods, and I found myself enthralled, until the bell rang again. I jumped slightly in my chair. Fail.

"Homework is to research and find which god or goddess best suits you," she said, "Class dismissed."

We all filled out of the room, me last, and I was about to disappear out the doorway when Miss Chase said, "Wait, Mr. Cilliani."

I grimaced. "Jakob, please. I hate my last name."

She smiled briefly. "Jakob. Can you come and see me after school, Jakob? I have something to ask you."

"Uh, okay…" I said, wondering what she could possibly want.

"Thank you," she said, smiling again. "You may go now."

Without answering, I turned and strode out of the classroom.

Once Jakob had gone, Annabeth's smile slid off her face like melting candle wax. She had no doubt that that boy was a demigod. She also didn't doubt who the boy's father was.

Closing the door firmly behind her, she sat down at the desk and pulled out a mobile from her pocket. She didn't detect any monsters, so she figured one call wouldn't hurt.

She thumbed speed dial number one, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Hello?" he said.

"Percy, I think I've found you a half-brother," she said without preamble.

* * *

"Really?" he said, turning around to stare out the drizzle covered window. Percy was posing as a P.E. teacher, wishing he didn't have to take a job. Nico didn't have to, why did he? But there was no point arguing with Annabeth. For a girl, she was damn crafty. He rubbed his left temple with his spare hand. He'd only had one class that morning, and they had been horrible. He wondered if he had, three short years ago, been such an asshole kid.

"I'm going to talk to him this afternoon, but yeah, I'm pretty sure. He looks like you, kind of."

Percy pondered this. "What's his name?"

"Jakob Cilliani."

"Do you know what class he has next?"

Annabeth didn't answer, and he heard the rattle of the laptop keyboard in the background. That blasted laptop. Percy didn't know what she liked more: The laptop or him.

"Uh, you're in luck," she said. "He has P.E. and then Chemistry in the afternoon."

"Okay, thanks. And Annabeth, I love you."

She sighed over the other end of the phone. "I love you too, even though you annoy me so much I want to kill you at times." He smirked.

Disconnecting, he stood there, still gazing out the window. They had only started saying 'I love you' to each other a couple of months ago, and every time it was like an electric shock.

The rest of lunch passed quickly. Percy wished he could have spent it with her, but—he was slightly embarrassed about this—he didn't know where she was. He also wasn't going to call and ask her.

So, he just sat there by the window. He'd opened it, and the fine drizzle felt good against his skin. Finally the bell, rather nasally, rang. It didn't help his headache. Did demigods get headaches? Who knows?

Walking out of the staffroom, he strode towards the MPS, or Multi-Purpose Shelter. This was where the students had assemblies every Friday, and where the P.E. class was held. This school was certainly different from the ones in America. He probably didn't even look the legal age to teach, but the Mist was a powerful thing, and when you learned to bend it to your will, a number of things were possible.

Most of the MPS was blue floor, with different coloured lines running across it. In the front was a stage with a few rows of chairs. It was in the middle of this stage, on the edge, that Percy perched. A couple of minutes later, the MPS started to fill with chatter. Sixteen-year-olds, both boys and girls, walked over to him, figuring he was the teacher. There were about twenty of them, and they were all lean and athletic looking.

The school used iPod touches for small things like emails and the roll. Percy pulled the one for this class out of his pocket and tapped the appropriate app. The screen displayed a list of names with a large checkbox on the side of their name. In the top left corner was a box labelled Send to Administration.

With a sigh, and still nursing a slight headache, he called out the first name on the list. "Alissa Brown?" he called.

"Here."

"Imogen Camp?"

"Here."

"Scott Carrey?"

"Away, Sir."

_Sir, _Percy thought, smiling. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a bad class.

"Jakob Cilliani," he said.

"Here, sir."

Percy looked up at this mysterious teenager Annabeth was sure was a demigod. He was standing at the back, behind most of the other students. He had black hair much like Percy's, and dark grey eyes. He also had the signature brooding look. Or perhaps he was just unhappy. He did look like a son of Poseidon.

"Greg Homer?"

"Present."

After mailing the roll to the office, he put the iPod down and jumped from the stage.

"Right," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's party."

* * *

I ran my about one-thousandth lap in that period. Usually I like P.E., but today it royally sucked.

_Stupid teacher. _I glared at him. Why did I have to have another new teacher? I actually liked the old one. I'd had some hopes that he'd be okay, judging from his age, but obviously not. Even the girls who now ran passed me didn't seem to think much of him anymore, despite the giggling about his 'hotness', before.

Finally, he said, "Stop." We moved to the side of the MPS, taking water bottles out of bags and flopping down onto the ground. I panted as I gulped at the water. Admittedly, I felt better with every sip, but I was still quite content to sprawl on the ground, my back leaning against a wall.

"You did well today," Mr. Jackson, as he'd introduced himself, said. "But do you want to know why I did it?"

I bit back several snide remarks, and I was pretty sure the others beside me did too.

"No sir," said Imogen.

"I wanted to test how fit you all are," he said. "C'mon, lighten up. I promise we won't do this again next week."

At that point, the bell rang, and Mr. Jackson dismissed us without homework, which partly made up for all the laps he had forced us to run.

The next lunch passed quickly, considering it was only twenty minutes long, and then it was time for Chemistry. Ah, how I loathed Chemistry, with its stupid little symbols, and its atoms and it's incredibly complicated formulae. Most of the time I didn't end up with what I was meant to. Often, it looked—and smelt—completely different. Today was no exception. The words and diagrams floated around in my vision even more then usual, and I ended up with something black that smelled like the inside of a sewer.

Finally, the day was over, and I was just about to walk outside into the rain when I remembered Miss. Chase. Groaning, I walked towards the Science staffroom. She wasn't there, but she had a note on her desk that said _Gone to the MPS, please meet me there._

Shrugging my shoulders, I walked back out and down the corridor. At that time, I didn't even register that the school was utterly deserted, nor did I see the thing that watched me with red eyes as I walked into the MPS.

In the corner were Miss. Chase and Mr. Jackson. Hugging. Making out.

_Awkwaaaaard. _I thought, clearing my throat uncertainly. They broke apart, and Miss. Chase blushed slightly.

"Oh, Jakob, I didn't expect you'd come so soon," she said, moving away from my other teacher. I personally found this whole situation awkward to the point of laughing. Later, of course. Now it was just awkward.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Do you're parents know you're here? I don't want them to worry…"

"My parents are dead," I said quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Her tone sounded sincere, but there was something in her eyes, it looked oddly like…triumph…

"Jakob—"

Whatever she had been about to say was lost in the horrible screeching roar that filled the MPS. The back wall exploded, rubble and dust filling the east side of the MPS.

When the dust cleared, a most horrific looking monster stepped over the chunks of concrete. It was about six feet tall, scaly, and had a grotesque head from which startling red eyes glared. It hissed again. I may have uttered something that sounded like _Eep_, as in front of me Mr. Jackson and Miss. Chase drew weapons from their pockets.

"Annabeth," Mr. Jackson said. I looked around the find this mysterious Annabeth before realising that that must be Miss. Chase's name. "I'll take him from one side, try to distract him with some water. Gods knows there is enough of it around. You go the other."

And then the monster spoke.

"I want…him," it said, in a horrible nasally voice. And then it pointed. At me.

_Eep._

Annabeth and Mr. Jackson approached it warily, one on the north side, one on the south. But this monster wasn't stupid. Instead, it scuttled straight forwards, through the gap that they had made, towards me.

Mr. Jackson ran backwards at a fantastic speed, leaning in to strike the monster on its calf. It swatted him away, faster then I thought possible, into a wall, which buckled under his impact.

Annabeth learned from his mistake. Instead of attacking it from the side, she jumped on its back and unsuccessfully tried to stab it in the neck.

"Die, foolisssssh demigod," it hissed, shaking her off as though she was no more then a fly. She flew through the air and hit the ground, hard. It continued to advance towards me, and I stood there, paralysed, looking with horror at the _thing _that approached me. It was just a few feet away from me when it was hit in the face by a gigantic blast of water. Coughing and spluttering, it reeled back, hands flying to its face.

It ignored me, running quicker then I thought it could towards Mr. Jackson, who had his palms open. Water smashed through the plastic window panes swirling around him and was forced up into the things face. It was as if he was controlling the water, or something…

But it learned from its lesson. It jumped, high into the air as the water washed by underneath, and landed right in front of him. He raised the bronze sword but the monster was too fast. It swatted him so hard he flew through the wall, smashing a hole in it, and disappeared into the rainy night. It was seriously raining now.

I looked behind me, where Annabeth was lying face down on the floor. She was either unconscious or worse…

It advanced once again towards me, grinning and uttering a crackly hiss I realised was laughter.

Closing my eyes, I prayed to someone, anyone, that I would survive this.

On top of all this, I still had a headache, and it was getting worse.

And suddenly, the pressure was gone, and so was the monster.

Water and wind whipped together into a hurricane, sweeping up chunks of rubble and other materials. The monster was swept up into it, howling as it went around and around. It hit a huge blue chunk of wall and decapitated into chunks of yellow dust whipped away into the hurricane. The rest of the MPS gave a groan, parts of it breaking off and swirling into the hurricane.

It was starting to terrify me, as I could feel parts of other buildings being smashed into the hurricane, and I didn't know how to stop it.

Suddenly, Mr. Jackson was right beside me, yelling in my ear to be heard above the hurricane.

"You have to let it go!" he was yelling. "Just let it go!"

I did as he said, and the hurricane dramatically lessened, parts of other buildings ricocheting around, smashing windows and into concrete. I tried to let it go more, and suddenly it was gone, pieces of building materials raining down around us. Mr. Jackson raised his finger to the sky, and the rain diverted to him. He spread his palms, and a dome made of water surrounded us. Pieces of debris that would otherwise have hit us were diverted around.

Finally, the debris stopped falling, and Mr. Jackson let the water go.

It was properly dark now, all lighting swept away by the hurricane. I could see though, by the light of the starts, that a huge circle of nothingness was around us, and I was at the point of it.

Suddenly, I felt enormously tired. I dropped to my knees, breathing heavily.

"Percy," I heard Miss. Chase say. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he said back. "He…saved us." He sounded amazed.

I could feel the blackness pressing around me, and I knew what was going to happen.

With a slight smile, I collapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Wow. That was **_**huge **_**for me.**

**Leave me some love, yo! It's not often I write such long chapters.**

**On a more serious note, I know that my characters are slightly OOC. I apologise. I am trying, I promise.**

**Note: Just curious, did the books ever mention if Percy was left or right handed? I have no idea.**

**Well, thanks for reading!**

**-SFM**


	2. II

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS!**

**Erhem, on with the chapter.**

**Oh, I changed to story title from 'Oh Dear', to 'When It Rains'. Because it just _fits _better.**

**Just saying here, I have an actual plot, and there will be surprises, including Jakob's parents. There **_**was **_**a clue in the last chapter regarding **_**both **_**his parents, but perhaps not the way you may think…**

**Note: In this, I've made Nico into a lady's man, as the thought amuses me greatly. I hope I haven't played into any site stereotypes. I hate them. –shudders- **

It was the rhythmic rocking that first woke me. The next thing I was aware of was the…nothing. There was no pressure in my head at all. Nothing. I didn't understand, but all my life I seemed to be suffering from a slight headache, a niggling sensation in the back of my head. I thought everyone was the same. But now…Nothing.

I peeled open my eyes, and then groaned when the light hit them. I scrunched them back up, clawing at it as though it was a physical enemy.

Thinking of physical enemies made me think of that horrible thing. I sat bolt upright, eyes flying open regardless of the light.

There was nothing in the room, monster-wise. Assessing the fact that I wasn't in immediate danger, I looked at my surroundings.

It was dark outside the porthole, stars shining in the night sky, and a beam of moonlight resting on my face. Inside the cabin, it was also dark, so I couldn't make out any of the features. I appeared to be alone, as I couldn't sense anyone.

The cabin was still rocking gently, and I knew I was on a ship. No shit. But I could actually _feel _the ocean, the millions of galleons of water, washing away outside that window. It made me feel very small, because all that water could easily send us to the bottom of the ocean, and there would be nothing I could do about it.

The rhythmic movement of the ship was making me sleepy. With a sigh, I lay back down and closed my eyes.

When I awoke the next day, it was light. I felt good, better then I had in a long time. I opened my eyes to find the cabin lit with sunlight.

It was quite nice, furnished with a dark wood paneling. A small T.V. stood in the corner, a white couch in front of it. There was a vase of flowers on my night stand, and all in all, this was certainly a much better place then it was last night.

And the sunlight! I rushed to the porthole and opened it up. The salty breeze blew through the room as I opened in and stuck my head out. Below was the white hull of the ship. It was a large one, because it stretched quite a ways away on either side. Below me was the roiling green surf. In the distance, the sun was high in the sky, casting arcs of sunlight across the ocean.

I was mesmerized by the sight of it, I will admit, but about five minutes later, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," I said, closing the porthole and sitting down on the bed.

The door opened, and in came Annabeth. Her hair was pulled up, and there was a slight scar on her cheek, evidence of her fight, but that was it. You wouldn't know that she'd just battled and almost lost to a gigantic snaky thingy.

"Hey," I said, feeling awkward. After all, she was still my teacher. Looking out of the room, I was on a ship, and they had technically kidnapped me. Not that I could bring myself to care, though.

"Hello," she said, looking me in the eyes. Her eyes, a lighter colour then my own, were gazing me with such intensity that I had the sudden compulsion to look away. However, I steeled myself to look at her back. Grey met gray. I forced myself not to blink.

"Who are you?" she asked me, finally. She dropped her gaze, and I closed mine, the aching stopping.

"I'm Jakob Cilliani," I said with my eyes still closed. "I live at 25 Central Court, Bethania. I've lived in Australia for two years. Before that…"

Nothing. There was nothing at all. It was as if a clean cloth had wiped a film of dust of a surface, so the metal underneath gleamed. I could not remember anything before stepping into the airport in Australia, two years ago. Before that, there was blackness.

"I…can't remember."

She nodded, like this was a usual concept.

"Jakob, I believe I've already asked you this, but…what do you know about Greek mythology, particularly the God?" she asked me, completely and utterly serious.

"I told you," I said, starting to get slightly creeped out. "They lived on Olympus, and they used to come down and have kids with the mortals…There were three brothers of Kronos—she flinched at that—and they together ruled the sea, the sky and the Underworld…?" I trailed off. Did she want me to continue?

She nodded again. "You said they used to," she said. "Why used to?"

"Uh, because they're myths, and they happened a really long time ago?" I was going to say more, but a rumble of thunder in the sky interrupted my thoughts.

She frowned. "You see, Jakob, the thing is…" She looked unsure. "Those myths, about Poseidon and Hades and Zeus…" More thunder. "They're…well, they're real. That really happened. All those myths, they're truthful. And the part you mentioned about having kids, they haven't stopped. Having kids with mortals, I mean. And you, me, and others, we're the product of those relationships."

"Wow." I lay back the headboard, mind reeling. So, one of my parents was a…God?

"Who's your parent?" I asked her abruptly.

She smiled at me. "Athena, Goddess of Wisdom."

_Fair enough. _"So, obviously, you aren't a teacher. Why were you at my school?"

"For you." _Of course._

"And do you know who my mum or dad is?"

She nodded. "We're pretty sure."

"We're?" I asked. "Oh, right."

"Yes, Percy is one too. In fact, possibly the most powerful one of the 22nd century."

"His parent?"

"Poseidon, God of the Sea."

"Ooookay. So, the Greek Gods are real?"

"Check."

"And they're still having children."

"Correct again."

"And these children are incredibly powerful?"

"Correct a third time. The children of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades started World War II, but that's beside the point now."

"And you think I am the son of one of these Gods or Goddesses?"

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure which one."

"And he or she is…?"

She opened her mouth to answer me, but was interrupted by a male voice outside the door.

"Annabeth, are you in here?"

The door opened, and Percy came in. I looked at him, in a different light then a teacher. He was tall, and lithe; an athlete's body. His hair was straight, until the end, where it curled slightly. His eyes were sea-green, and the angles in his face were sharp, brooding. He looked startlingly like me.

"Poseidon, I guess?" I said to them both.

"Yes," they both said at the same time. This was followed by a pause, and then, from Percy:

"What are we talking about?"

"My parent, or more specifically, it seems, my father," I said back, trying once again to remember anything about my parents. But I seemed to an invisible wall, where I couldn't go through. And it was this, more then the fact that the Gods and stuff like that were real, that creeped me out.

"Well, we won't be entirely sure until we get you back to camp, but I don't know anyone else who can create a hurricane," he said. "And can't you feel the ocean, all around us?"

He was right; I could feel the ocean, alive and thrumming within my cells.

"Camp?" I asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. "It's where people like us go to train to survive in the world."

_Survive…_

"Wait, so you're telling me, the thing in the MPS…That isn't an abnormal occurrence?"

"No," she said. "Unfortunately. Monsters, things like the thing you saw in the MPS, are attracted to your blood. Especially you, with the blood of the Big Three…"

"Big Three?" I asked.

"The Big Three Gods," Percy said. "The sons of Kronos. Hades, Zeus and Poseidon."

"Ah."

"As I was saying," Annabeth continued. "It's amazing that we didn't sniff you out a long time ago. You have a very powerful aura."

"So, what now?" I asked. "My life has just been turned upside down, I can only remember two years of it, I am the apparent son of someone who controls nearly three quarters of all mass on Earth, and monsters would like to eat me, on account of the fact that I smell good. Oh, and I accidently blew up half of my school with a _hurricane?"_

Percy smiled sadly, like he'd been in this position before. "I know it's hard to believe. And I also know you may feel abandoned by the gods. We all do, at some point. But, they do care for us. I promise. As for now…" he said, grinning, "We're on a holiday. It'll take this ship two weeks to get to Long Island, and in that time, just relax and enjoy it."

"So, I'm a half-blood, is that what you call it?" I asked. He nodded. "So, are there anymore of us around? I mean, here on the ship?"

"Yeah," he said. "You'll meet him later. As for now, the sun is shining, the ocean is beautiful, and I can feel the pool calling me. Literally. Let's go."

And so, we walked out of the cabin, the door locking decisively behind us.

We were in a hallway of light polished wood, with a white painted wall behind us. In front of us was an enormous pane of glass, which ran all the way around the hall. Through it, I could see we were four stories high, a wrap around viewing platform onto the terrace below. There were benches and plants, with people milling around, surrounding a water fountain that tinkled into the air. Concentrating on the fountain, I wondered if I could do anything to it. Almost instantly, a large volume of water blasted out of the top, splashing the people as they screeched and ducked for cover.

"You shouldn't do that," Percy said. "It's not fair on the mortals." A slight smile tugged at his lips, however.

Together we set off down the corridor, me facing the glass wall, Annabeth next to me, who had her hands linked with Percy.

We took an elevator down to the deck and emerged at the bow of the ship. The Pacific Ocean glittered around us as the ship cut through the water heading for what I assumed was Long Island. There was a huge pool built into the deck, and I could tell it was salt-water. How? Don't ask me. I don't know how. I just _could. _There was a young couple on the far side, and on this side, I could see a number of good looking women who looked barely out of their teenage years. They were crowded around a deckchair.

"Jakob," Percy said, pointing in the direction of the chair. "Meet Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

"Did someone call my name?" A voice asked from within the throng of women. They parted slightly, as a man not a lot older then I was sat up. He was olive-skinned, bare-chested, with dark eyes and hair as black as mine. He was wearing black board shorts, and had some kind of chain around his neck.

He stood up, and approached us, and as I looked at his eyes, I could see a spark of something, a gleam that made you think of a mad person or a genius. It was well concealed, though.

"I'm Nico," he said to me, offering his hand. "You must be the Jakob I keep hearing so much about."

I nodded, and shook his hand. It was as cold as ice, like he'd stuck it in a snow drift.

Turning away from us, and dropping me an inconspicuous wink to me, he turned back to his posse of pretty blond girls. "Which one of you fabulous ladies would like to accompany me back to my room?"

They giggled and followed Nico into the elevator, as Annabeth rolled his eyes.

"Nico is a player," Percy said. "But he treats them alright."

"How old are you all?" I asked him.

"Annabeth and I are twenty," he said, "Nico's eighteen."

Annabeth dropped into a deck-chair, and stretched out, relaxing. I meanwhile to my pants and dived into the pool, relishing the feel of the cool water around me, and hearing Percy splash down near me.

The rest of our time on the ship, the 'Genesis', as Annabeth called it, was uneventful. Every day I would wake up to beautiful skies and the emerald ocean. There was a storm one night, but with a little concentration, Percy managed to make it skirt the ship.

The days were either spent in the pool, at the buffet, or exploring the ship. It was good, not to worry about school or anything, for once. I simply decided to let this God stuff sort itself out, and tried to forget about it. Sometimes this succeeded, and sometimes it didn't. Most of the times it didn't involved Percy trying to teach me how to bend the water to my will. It worked best with salt water, but I could also control fresh water. It was hard work in the beginning, where I could barely make the pool ripple. The other times I had played with water seemed to be an abnormality. It tired me out, but I started to build up a resistance to the fatigue. I was bending water into intricate shapes with no effort at all by the time the ship chugged into the Long Island Sound.

**I'm going to leave it there, because my sister wants the computer. ****Sorry for the no update thing, but the last year of school and major assessments due mean me no update. But guess what? I've finished everything, so expect MOAR updates. I have the last chapter of this written out already, because I'm awesome like that, but there will be a while to go before we get there.**

**Last question, what was the prophesy at the end of TLO? I forgot, and I'm not bothered finding it in the library.**

**Review me, yo!**

**SFM**


	3. III

**I'm updating because I'm a review whore, dammit. We are introduced to other minor Gods in this chapter.**

The drive to the camp at Long Island didn't take long. Once out of the seaport, Nico had heralded a black SUV, which had picked us up and whisked us away down the road, headed for camp. It was very, very cold inside the car, and I shivered.

How did I feel? Nervous, anticipatory, hungry. What? I haven't eaten since this morning. But more then that, I felt excited. Since learning I was the son of the Sea God, and since a monster had tried to kill me, I was anticipating a whole community where there were others like me.

I had learnt more about recent demigod history, including the pact with the Big Three. In fact, apparently the pact had been officially broken just a week ago. Which didn't explain why I was a son of Poseidon and sixteen-years-old, but that was something for later. I also knew about Luke and Kronos. Just quietly, I think that that whole catastrophe would have been avoided if the Olympians had stood up and claimed their children. But, thanks to Percy, that is exactly what was now happening.

We stopped at the bottom of a hill and got out. The grass swayed in a gentle breeze, and I looked up the hill. There, at the crest, was an enormous tree, something glittery hanging from its lower branch. And curled up around it…

"That's Peleus, the guard dragon," Annabeth said, as though reading my mind. "Come on."

Behind us, Nico snapped his fingers and the car turned to dust, sucked into the earth.

Because that's not strange. Although, I'm figuring that I'm going to see a lot more strange stuff then a car made of dust.

We walked up the hill, cutting swathes through the thick grass. Stopping only so that Annabeth could scratch the dragon under the chin, we passed the tree. I felt a slight resistance, but then it was gone, and I was looking down on the other side of the hill.

In the middle of a large field, a huge white barnhouse, three stories high, with a number of evenly placed windows and a large wrap-around balcony stood casting a shadow.

To the right of this was a large mass of trees, through which I could sense a river. Fresh water, too.

On the left, there were a number of cabins, arranged in a haphazard U formation, with a number of statues and bushes in the middle. To the right of this there was a more orderly and smaller U shape of buildings, with a volleyball court, a barbecue pit, and more statues.

To the north was a Greek-columned pavilion with tables facing a longer one, and scattered around this were other things I couldn't make out.

We walked down the other side of the hill, and towards the barnhouse. Up close, I could see the plants growing were strawberries, arranged in neat orderly rows.

"We do an export on the strawberries," Annabeth explained, as we went passed. "It pays for the maintenance of the camp."

"I see," I said back, not really listening. "Are those the cabins for the campers?" I pointed towards the two U-shapes.

"Yes, one for each God," she said. "It used to be only the twelve Olympians, but the lesser Gods had cabins built too. You wouldn't believe how many half-human; half-minor gods there are around. We had to build them bigger then I specified, just to fit everyone."

"You specified?"

"Yes," she said, voice taking on a proud tone. "I designed all of them, and I designed the buildings they rebuilt on Olympus."

"Really?" I asked, interested. I liked architecture. "Do you go for a classical style?"

This seemed to set off the volcano. In an instant, her eyes took on a shining tone, and she started to talk, very quickly as though someone was going to glue her mouth shut.

"Great going," Nico groaned. "Now she's not going to shut-up."

Making sure Annabeth wasn't looking at him, Percy nodded quickly.

Finally, we arrived at the barnhouse.

"Have fun in there," Nico said, grinning. "Mr. D's still here."

"Mr. D?"

"Don't mind Nico," Annabeth said. "Just go." She pushed me lightly in the back.

"He didn't turn you into a bottlenose dolphin," I heard Nico say to Percy. "He's not anymore annoying then you are."

And on that cheery note, I headed inside.

It was quiet inside the farmhouse, and warm, the heat descending like a heavy blanket.

The floors and walls were wooden, and an open door led out the back, onto the porch, the Sound glittering in the distance. Crossing through the threshold, I walked right, where I could hear low mummers.

It was at that point I found the blotchy man with the purple hair and the guy in a motorized wheelchair playing a game of cards.

"Uh," I cleared my throat uncertainly. "Am I—"

"Oh, hurry up and sit." The guy with the purple hair didn't even look up.

I sat.

"Now, do you know how to Pinochle," he asked me, still not looking up. I was starting to like him less and less. I vaguely remembered it from Ancient History.

"Maybe…?" It came out as a question.

The man sighed theatrically and put down his cards. Impatiently, he explained how to play, the other guy waiting patiently.

Finally, I bid. The blotchy guy cackled in delight and proceeded to tally up points. Still not really having any idea what was going on, I decided to go with it, and peace descended on the deck, for half an hour at least.

Finally, after the blotchy man who smelled like alcohol has finished counting up the points, tried to cheat, and then started sulking, the other man turned to me.

"So," he said. "Young Jakob. Do you know why you're here?"

"Because one of my parents is a god?" I asked him, although I had pretty much confirmed at this point that it wasn't a dream. Unless I was going crazy…

"Indeed," he continued. "Percy has informed me that he is sure of who your father is, but unfortunately, until you are claimed—"

"Claimed?" I asked.

"Claimed, owned, recognized, whatever you want," sulked the other guy.

The one in the wheelchair smiled. "Indeed, Mr. D."

"As I was saying, until you are claimed by your Olympian parent, you will have to stay in the Hermes cabin."

"Why?"

"Hermes is the God of Thieves, Travelers and Medicine. He isn't picky about who he sponsors," the wheelchair-guy said. "And we don't want to anger the Gods."

"Yet you continue to beat me…" Mr. D muttered.

"Wait," I said, rounding on him. "So, you're a god?"

He glared at me. "Dionysus, God of Wine, Lust and Pleasure."

Oh. "Okay, one last question. What's your name?" I pointed at the wheelchair guy.

"I am Chiron," he said.

"Like the centaur?" I asked. He smiled again.

"Something like that."

It was at that point someone else stepped onto the deck. He was a teenager, about my age, with spiky blond hair and hazel eyes.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Giac Letterman. You must be Jakob. Nice to meet you." His teeth were very white. He turned to Chiron. "You called me up here?"

"Yes," he said. "Can you show Jakob around? He'll be residing in the Hermes cabin for a while."

"Sure," he said, before turning back to me. "C'mon. There's heaps to see and only an hour until dinner."

There was something about him, an immediate charisma, and I couldn't help liking him.

"Sure," I said, standing up. "Later, Chiron, Mr. D."

Mr. D frowned at me, but Chiron nodded, and together, Giac and I walked off the porch, and away from the man and the god.

So, I heard from Percy that you're pretty sure who your father is?" he asked me as we strolled past the pavilion.

"Yeah," I said. "Poseidon, and it sort of makes sense, when you think about what I can do with water."

To prove my point, and also because I wanted to exercise my power, I flicked a finger towards the ocean. A geyser erupted from the Sound, spraying the beach as it crashed back down into the ocean.

Giac's eyes widened. "Wow," he said. "I wish I could do stuff like that. As it is, all I can do is make plants grow."

"Who's your parent?" I asked him, but he seemed not to hear me, and moved slightly further ahead. I shrugged and upped my pace. We passed the archery range, the volleyball court, and the barbecue pit. Giac explained about the main U ring of cabins, pointing at the average, faded one I would be staying in.

We rounded the side of number twelve, Hephaestus, and was presented with another U-shaped formation of buildings, this one containing more cabins and a lot less orderly.

"This is for the minor God's and Goddess's children to live in, while at camp," Giac explained. "They are only recent, since Percy asked that the minor Gods be included in the camp.

"Ah," I said. We passed several cabins of different colours and designs, Giac pointing them out to me as we passed.

"Erebus, Janus, Iris, Momus, Nyx, Aether…"

We stopped in front of a cabin. It was long and wooden, rustic-looking, with a trellis of vines in the front and small frosted windows.

"And this is my cabin," he said, frowning. "Now, if we'll move along…"

"Wait," I said. "Who's the patron of this one."

He frowned again, before sighing in a resigned way. "This cabin's patron is Priapus."

"The God of…?" It was like pulling teeth. Besides, I'd never heard of this one.

"My father is the rustic God of fertility, livestock, fruit-bearing plants, gardens and…uh, male genitalia…" he muttered the last bit, face going pink.

"Oh," I said, mildly embarrassed.

"And as such, all children of Priapus are always male."

We moved on, to the next cabin. It had black, translucent looking walls, with what looked like smoke roiling around inside it. It had a simple black door on the front, and a wraparound balcony which cast the deck into darkness.

"This is the cabin of Morpheus," he said, recovering from the previous cabin. "God of Dreams. We had to fight for this one, due to Morpheus' involvement in the uprising."

There was a girl sitting on the porch, cross-legged, reading a book. She looked up when we stopped. She had brown hair, tied into a pony tail, green-grey eyes and a slightly large nose. She was cute, I decided. The girl finished appraising me and went back to her book.

Behind me, Giac smiled. "C'mon."

We went back to the Hermes cabin, Giac walking back to his cabin as I walked through the door. It was dark inside, and smelled musty, but the councillor was nice enough. He set me up in the bunk on the far side of the room.

I lay down in the bunk, but as soon as I did, a conch horn blew.

The councillor told us to fall into line, and we walked in time out of the cabin, into the night air. It was pleasant, and the pavilion before us blazed with light.

"That's the dining pavilion," he said to me. "It's where we eat." I rolled my eyes at the sarcasm.

We were seated at a table near the edge of the pavilion, the table cloth white and edged with purple. It was rather crowded at some of the tables, but Percy's was empty save for him, and Nico had one small girl at his.

"Right," Dionysus said, standing up. "We have another bra—camper with us today. His name is Johnson Pastrami."

Chiron whispered in his ear.

"I don't care enough to say it right," Dionysus said. "Just shut up and eat."

Wood nymphs carrying platters of food materialised onto the pavilion. I filled my plate, waiting for the others to start, when everyone stood up, going towards the brazier. Not knowing what else to do, I stood up as well, peering down the line at what they were doing.

They were sliding food into the fire, and all of them were muttering as they did it. Giac was in front of me.

"It's burnt as an offering to the Gods," he whispered to me. "They like the smell."

_That's not strange in any way. _I shook my head and shuffled forwards, where Giac deposited a bunch of grapes into the fire.

"Father," was the only thing he said, before moving on.

It was my turn. I slid a piece of feta and olive pizza into the fire, and said, "Poseidon, if you're my dad, a sign would be nice."

Then I returned to my seat and sat down.

The meal was soon finished, and Mr. D dismissed us, grumping about what a major inconvenience we were to him.

On the way back to the Hermes cabin, I spied the girl again. She was talking quietly to someone tall with black hair.

It was Nico. And at that, I felt a peculiar rage build inside me. I wanted to drown Nico all of a sudden.

_Jelousy, _my brain supplied, but I ignored it. With great effort, I wrenched my face away from them, and strode back to the cabin, where I lay in bed for half the night, fuming.

**An excerpt of the next chapter for the person who guesses where I got the name 'Giac' from. Signed reviews get an…interesting preview, maybe not of the next chapter, but certainly in the immediate future.**

**In other news, I need a beta. Any volunteers?**

**Review me, plox.**


	4. IV

Sorry if the spacing is off. I'm experimenting with uploading from my iPod. 

So, you didn't get your update. Will another chapter appease you? Probably not as long as the other ones, but I updated yesterday. I have also now got a beta. Everyone bow down to… SoaringPassion! 

-confetti, streamers, etc- 

On with the story. 

DiamondDragonFang: Nope, you're wrong. :D 

I settled in fairly quickly. It had been a week since I'd come to camp, and it already felt like home. Due to the influx of campers before my arrival, everything apparently worked on a much more complex rotational basis than before the war, starting earlier and ending later. This was why I found myself staring at the tip of a sword at six o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, eight days after I had arrived at this camp. 

I was still half asleep, and didn't have the slightest idea which end I was meant to hold. The sky wasn't even properly lit yet! This was ridiculous. 

"The pointy end goes in other people," Giac remarked grumpily. He and his cabin were also doing sword-play in the morning, along with the kids from Apollo cabin. I had been sitting on a patch of grass ten minutes earlier when he flopped down next to me, blond hair sticking up wildly, and then started to snore softly. I poked him back awake, and I had a feeling he didn't enjoy it too much.

"I knew that," I said, picking it up from the non-sharp end. 

"Right," I heard a brisk voice say from the other end of the arena. "Let's see what talent we have this morning." I looked up, and there was the girl from the Morpheus cabin, dressed in black, loose-fitting clothes and hefting a large sword. She tapped the flat-end onto the palm of her right hand. "Who's first?" 

"Jakob is," Giac said, pushing me forward, still grumpy from the whole 'poke him until he wakes up' thing. The girl smiled. 

"Um, uh, what?" I said, disorientated. 

"En garde," she said, leaping forward. I had barely enough time to raise my sword before she started cutting me into ribbons. "Keep your guard up!" she said, aiming for my legs. I jumped back. "Don't let me in!" 

I parried another blow, stepping backwards again. This girl was brutal. Time and again, she would hit me, or trip me, or do something that would leave me with yet another bruise. Finally, she relented. 

"Alright," she said, her tone slightly warmer. "You aren't bad. You can go back now." 

I staggered back to where Giac was. The teenager was watching me with an amused smile on his face.

"You're pretty good," he said, looking at me. "Most people don't do too well with Grace." 

"Grace?" I asked. "Oh, is that her name?" He nodded, and was about to say something else, when she called to us. 

"Giac," she said. "It's your turn!" Giac groaned, and stood up, stretching, before picking up a sword from the brackets. He stood in front of her, and she did the same thing, but at least Giac was expecting it, unlike me. He was quite good, and gave her a couple of bruises of her own, but at last flopped onto the sand, chest heaving with exertion. 

"And now you're dead," she said, putting her blade near his neck. 

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, pushing it away, before staggering upright. The others from each respective cabin each had their turn. The Apollo kids were terrible, but then they were better with bows. Giac's cabin was average, as was the Hermes cabin, a couple of them managing to win. Finally, at nine o'clock, it was over. I was sweaty and hot, and was looking forward to a shower, when Giac pulled me back, tutting. 

"Can't have a shower yet," he said. "We've got canoeing. You'll probably get wet in that, anyway." 

We had the Hermes, Priapus and Apollo cabins with us for the entire day, which consisted of canoeing, (which I was pretty good at), archery (which I was terrible at), and climbing the lava wall, which left my shirt smoking and the hair on the back of my head singed. Night had fallen during the last activity, and everyone was drawn away from their activities by the sound of the conch horn. All of the campers drifted to the dining pavilion, which blazed with light. Once we were seated, Mr. D stood up, clinking his fork against a wineglass that was filled with Coke. 

"Shut it," he commanded. "Now, before we eat, I'd like to point out that Capture the Flag will happen on Tuesday." A loud roaring followed this. Mr. D waited impatiently for this to abate, before continuing dryly, "The Apollo cabin currently holds the laurels." Another cheer went up. "Right," he said, sitting down. "Eat." 

He snapped his fingers and just like they had every night since I've been here, the wood nymphs materialized from the shadows, bearing food on silver platters. 

I stood up with the others, and dropped a bunch of grapes into the fire. 

Poseidon, or whoever you are, father… I thought, before returning to my seat. 

I had already seen a kid claimed. It had been the night before last, when we were sparring. The girl had dropped her sword, standing rigid, as a golden bow appeared above her head, rotating slowly. 

She was twelve. I'm sixteen, and I wish I would be claimed. I mean, is it so hard to snap your fingers and make one of those things rotate around above my head? I sighed, and picked at the barbecue on my plate. Suddenly I wasn't hungry. 

Finally, the meal was over. Dionysus banished the satyrs who had been feeding him peeled grapes, and then stood up. Chiron, in wheelchair form (I had seen the centaur-form. It was damn creepy), wheeled around expectantly to him. "Now, before you go along to your stupid sing along," Dionysus said, "There is something that Chiron has felt important to tell you brats—" 

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by a rocking boom, which shook the dining pavilion and collapsed tables and benches sending us crashing to the floor among plates, cutlery, splinters of wood and shreds of table cloth. 

"What the hell was that?" I asked the camper on the floor next to me. 

"I don't know, but—" 

The ground shook again, and one of the marble pillars fell off its stand, crashing into the ground. And then, from the direction of the first crash, came the sound of human screaming. 

Well, you'll just have to wait until Sunday to see what happened. Thank you everyone for the reviews, I love all of you (in a non-stalker-ish way). Thanks again to SoaringPassion for betaing this, and, oh, one more thing. 

REVIEW. 


	5. V

**-cringes-**

**Don't kill meh! **

**I've just had a bit of writer's block. This is unbetaed because I just wanted to get it out, since I had left you waiting for so long. **

**Sorry...**

The camp was in chaos. Trees and cabins burned, people screamed, and there was a constant smashing noise, and an awful angry bellow that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

We scrambled from the wrecked dining pavilion to equip ourselves with something, anything that could be used to fight. A sword was thrust into my hand as I ran to my cabin, and I looked up, seeing the red light reflect off of Giac's eyes.

Everyone was running everywhere; campers, satyrs, dryads and other unidentified people. Chiron was trying to marshal a force, but they kept running around, terrified and panicking. We ran towards the bright light, with some others, and came forward onto a scene of devastation. A ring of absolute incineration stood, half of the Big House gone, and the strawberry fields on fire. In the middle stood one man, glowing with ethereal light.

"Hyperion!" said a voice from behind me, followed by a curse. I turned around and saw Nico, closely followed by Annabeth.

"You mean the light Titan?" I asked, awed and absolutely terrified.

"Yeah, that guy," said Annabeth, looking around anxiously. "Has anyone seen Perc—"

"Duck," screeched Giac, his voice an octave higher than usual. We flattened ourselves to the ground as a huge ball of flame hurtled towards us, smashing down trees behind us and setting them alight.

"Thalia's tree!" Annabeth screamed, looking in horror at the tree on the crest of the hill. The dragon whined and roared around it, before Hyperion picked up a huge tree, set it alight, and threw it at Peleus. It caught him in the head mid roar, silencing him and throwing him down the hill. More campers screamed as Hyperion conjured up a huge ball of fire, and sent it spinning towards the tree.

Not knowing quite how I did it, I felt a tug in my gut and behind me saw the lake ripple and then surge upwards into the air, smashing forwards with a roar. It caught the fireball, extinguishing it instantly, and flowed like a tsunami towards Hyperion, dousing fires as it went.

With a roar of fury, Hyperion was swept up into it, head disappearing below the surface. I prayed he was defeated, but a massive cloud of steam erupted from the middle of the water, and Hyperion burst out, blazing with light. He strode over to the tree and touched it. It blew apart, turning into ash that was swept away in the wind. The spell was broken and the magical borders that had protected the camp for so long were destroyed.

Immediately an awful howling reverberated around the valley. Dark, fuzzy shapes appeared around the camp. Monsters. It had all been a trap.

Campers and other assorted entities swarmed to the borders, destroying the monsters as they attacked. I saw a satyr bash a hell hound on the head with a set of reed pipes.

We stood up and ran down the slop to near where Hyperion stood. He bellowed out in fury as we reached him, and turned his back from us.

"You want some of this, oldie?" yelled a familiar voice from behind Hyperion's leg.

Annabeth spared a moment to roll her eyes. "Always the hero," she said, before we ran down, Nico, Annabeth, Giac and I, to where Percy stood, Riptide glowing in his hand.

"Puny son of Poseidon," he rumbled, facing Percy. "You beat me one, but you shall be no match for me this time."

"We'll see about that," Percy said, and the wind started to howl, gaining momentum and speed as loose objects were swept into it.

Rain began to fall, and that too was sucked into the hurricane, buffeting Hyperion with ever blast.

_Jakob..._

The voice made me jump, for it wasn't spoken, but rather reverberated in my mind.

_Uh, yeah? _I thought, wondering if I was going crazy.

_You aren't crazy. Much, _the voice had a sarcastic tone. I frowned. If I was going crazy, why couldn't the voices at least be nice to me? Then it started again. _Lend your power to the hurricane, _the voice said. _I defeated Hyperion before, but he is aware of my powers now._

Ah, so the voice was Percy. I concentrated as he said, and lent my power to the hurricane. Faster and stronger it swirled, gaining more and more momentum and debris. It buffeted Hyperion back, back out of camp borders.

Hyperion tried to hold on, but slowly, oh so slowly, he started to be picked up by the hurricane. Finally, Hyperion left the ground and was sucked in and up, a glob of blinding golden light swirling around in a dark vortex.

Geysers erupted around us, in a perfect circle, twisting towards the vortex as it became more water then air. Droplets sprayed out over the fields as the tornado became bigger and bigger.

I felt it move, and the hurricane flew into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller as it got higher and higher.

It disappeared, and somehow I knew that it had left the atmosphere.

Percy collapsed onto the ground in the middle of the damp and blackened ground. Annabeth immediately ran forward to his side, kneeling over next to his head. Small battles still surrounded us, but the most immediate danger was gone, and the campers had managed to form a sort of attack force, marching steadily against the monsters and holding their lines.

We arrived next to Percy's limp form, which lay sprawled on the ground in a very good imitation of death.

"Is he...?" Nico asked, unable to form the word that we all feared was true.

_Ow..._

The thought was faint.

_Percy...? _I asked. Well, thought, but you get the idea.

"I'm hearing voices," I said, out loud. Admittedly, this wasn't the time, but I figured it was only going to get worse.

"That's wonderful," said Annabeth, cradling Percy's head. He was breathing, his chest rising and falling under his sodden shirt.

"It was Percy," I said.

_Time to return to the land of the living, brother. _

He came back soon after that, opening his eyes to find himself staring up at Annabeth.

"If this is how I wake up all the time, I should faint from exhaustion more often," he said.

She frowned and shoved him off her lap. "Next time do us a favour and don't taking on a_ Titan_, Seaweed Brain," she said, disdain evident in her voice.

"Hey, it wasn't all me," he protested from the ground. "Jakob helped."

Three pairs of eyes turned to stare at me.

"What?" I asked. "We saved camp, didn't we?"

Behind us another cabin exploded.

"...Apart from that."

"The question is, though, how are you not on the ground fainted along with Percy?" Giac mused.

"Well, it was his hurricane, so I guess he was the one who did most of the work...?" It trailed off into a question.

"Hmmm."

A slow clapping sound reverberated through the area. We turned around, Percy hastily wobbling to his feet, using Nico as a crutch—Nico didn't seem to happy about it—as a youth stepped out of the tree line behind us.

He was tall, with long blond hair and icicle blue eyes. Not handsome, exactly; more commanding.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked.

He clapped his hands together, once. The sharp sound echoed around. "My name isn't important," he said. "Though you will know it soon enough. What _is _important is that that buffoon Hyperion failed once again."

Buffoon? A Titan? Who _is _this guy?

"But, whatever. The point is, you aren't escaping me." He grinned, sharp white teeth glinting in the moonlight. He clapped his hands together once more, and wind started to whirl around. It buffeted faster and faster, much more powerful than anything we could create. My feet started to pick up off the ground, and I fisted a bunch of Nico's black shirt, as I started to gain height.

"AROOOOOOFFF." The sound, so out of place in the atmosphere—both mental and physical—reverberated into my senses. At once the wind stopped.

We touched back down onto the ground, wondering why we were suddenly saved. The answer was immediately obvious. Only black clothed legs could be seen underneath the giant black hellhound which was perched on top of our mysterious assailant.

"ARRRROOOOF." It was Mrs O'Leary.

"Get off of me, you daft dog!" the boy yelled from underneath her.

"WOOOOOOOOF," she barked happily, pleased with her new toy. The bark was suddenly turned into a whine as she was shoved off, flying into the air and landing fifty meters away. She wasn't moving.

He wiped his face. Long strings of dog drool trailed from his hands.

"Argh! I _hate _you people," he spat with venom, flicking his finger at us.

A very powerful force picked us up and hurled us into the air, along with stones, boulders, trees and everything else in the path. Whoever this guy was, he was strong.

That was my last thought before a rock hit me on the temple and I blacked out.

**Soooooo.**

**Heh. Uh, ignore the updating schedule. **

–**throws schedule out the window-**

**So, here's the deal. I get thirty reviews, and I shall update twice, with a two thousand word chapter each.**

**Jakob: -hanging on the edge of seat- I wanna know what happened!**

**The author: Heh. Too bad. You'll have to wait until the update. You know, I can make you do everything I want.**

**Jakob: Well, I find that a little hard—**

**The author: Don't push me.**

**Reviewwwwww.**


	6. VI

**Thank you, as always, to Reading Obsession, my wonderful beta. Also, thank you everyone for the reviews. Each and every one makes my day! :D**

Percy was underwater when he awoke. He knew this without opening his eyes, feeling the ocean currents swirl around him and the fluid weightlessness that only happened when under the sea.

Opening his eyes confirmed his theory. He was lying on a bed made of seaweed, with a pillow behind his head. When he sat up, the pillow floated off. A small shark floated through one window and out another as he watched.

Standing up, he stretched, rocking backwards on his heels, which, he realised, were not in shoes. In fact, he was wearing a simple blue tee-shirt and black pants. Not what he had been wearing before.

Before...

He suddenly became a lot more alert, rubbing his eyes and crossing to the door. There was Annabeth. And were the others to think about. But mostly Annabeth.

"Hey, is anyone here?" he called as he opened the door. The corridor outside was deserted except for a single Cyclops, which was now barrelling towards him.

"Percy!" said Tyson, as he launched himself at him. "Brother! I missed you."

"Ugh, ribs... breaking..." Percy said, before Tyson released him. "I've missed you too, man. It's not the same on the surface without you." Tyson beamed with pride.

"Daddy said that once you woke up I had to take you to him. Come on!" he said, setting off down the hall.

Percy shrugged, following him. We talked about how things under the sea were (very good) and how things on land were (not so good). Finally we reached the door of the throne room.

"Tell Daddy hi!" Tyson said, stopping at the door.

"Sure thing," he said, suddenly nervous. Percy hadn't seen his father in over three years, since their meeting on the beach after the fall of Kronos.

Pushing open the door, he walked inside. Two mermen on the other side closed the door.

The room was painted a light blue, with bands of seashells in different colours embedded in the sides. On a raised dais of polished bronze sat Poseidon's throne. And on it, Poseidon.

He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and Bermuda pants, with a fly fisherman's jacket and a brimmed hat. All in all, he looked the same as when Percy had seen in the Olympian throne room, almost eight years ago.

"Perseus," Poseidon said, standing up. Percy knelt down on one knee in front of him.

"Hello, father," he said to the ground. Though he couldn't see it, Poseidon smiled.

"Get up, my son. No need to be so formal. That is for Zeus."

Percy stood, surprised once again by his father. But then, really, how do you relate on a personal level to a powerful and immortal Greek God? You didn't, he reasoned.

Poseidon sat back down, reclining in his throne. He waved his hand and the water bent and rippled, the ripples slowing as it morphed into a chair.

Poseidon gestured. "Sit, and tell me your story. I'm interested to know how you ended up in my domain."

And so Percy told him. He told him about camp, Annabeth, the rebuilding of Olympus, his mother, and finally Jakob and what had happened that led Percy to be under the ocean.

Percy became more agitated, striding around the throne room, from one side to the other, in front of the throne. Poseidon looked on in an amused expression.

"I mean, it's great to have a brother, a human one, and there is no doubt that he helped save us from Hyperion. But he's lonely, and is it really so hard for you to claim him..."

"Percy," Poseidon said quietly.

"I mean, sure, you have a busy schedule and all that what with ruling the ocean."

"Percy." It was a little louder this time. Percy still didn't stop.

"But it would only take a couple of seconds, and I don't see why—"

"Percy!" Poseidon bellowed. "Listen to me!'

Percy crossed his arms and stopped pacing. He stared coolly into Poseidon's eyes.

"Yes?" he asked.

Poseidon leaned back in his throne, regarding his son.

"There is a reason I haven't claimed this 'Jakob'," he said, holding Percy's gaze. Percy shifted uncomfortably. "Are you going to listen to what it is?"

Percy nodded.

"That's because this Jakob _is not my son._"

Silence reverberated around this room. Percy's eyes went wide.

"What? Are you sure—"

"Positive," Poseidon said. "I keep track of my children. They are rare enough that I am able to do that. You are the only born in the 1990's. If this Jakob is sixteen, I would know of him. I also know I have a daughter, Melissa, who is three months old at the moment, in Washington. Other than that, I do not have any live human children."

Percy looked surprised. "Oh, wow. So, do you have any ideas?"

Poseidon pursed his lips. "I think I may. And I pray that I'm not right."

Percy couldn't help it. He chuckled.

Poseidon frowned. "Yes?"

"It's just, I didn't think Gods could pray, considering they're Gods and all..."

Poseidon's lips quirked. "Be that as it may, my point remains the same. However, I cannot say. If you truly wish to know, which, as you are my son, I know you do, you will have to see another God, a Goddess, actually."

"Who?" he asked.

"Aphrodite. She knows about it. And I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you."

Percy sat back down, head reeling. With the prowess with which Jakob could control water, how could he _not _be Percy's brother?

Still, this was a conversation for another time. He was eager to get back to Annabeth, who had shared something with him that night. He also needed to talk to her, and her health was more important than anything. His heart ached at the thought of her.

"When can I leave?" he asked.

Poseidon smiled, showing white, even teeth. "I thought you would be going sooner rather than later. I was glad to see you again, my son. Tyson will show you how to get to your friends."

"Thank you, father, I was glad to see you too," Percy replied stiffly.

Poseidon stood. "Oh, wait," Percy said. "Tyson said to say 'hello'."

Poseidon smiled at the formality. "Tyson is a good son of mine. Never forget, though, that above all, you are my favourite."

And, with that, he was gone, leaving a fresh current of warm water in his wake.

Percy stared at the empty throne for a couple of seconds before standing up and turning around. The chair disappeared as Percy walked out of the door, the merman hurrying to open it.

Outside Tyson stood against the wall, eye closed. He was nodding silently, before opening his eye.

"Brother," he said thickly, "I'm going to miss you."

"Aw, Tyson," Percy said. "I'll miss you too."

And, with another bone crushing hug, they set off down the corridor, in the opposite direction this time.

Tyson led Percy to a courtyard, lit eerily with green lanterns, and with a mossy statue in the centre. Percy flicked his finger absentmindedly at it, and the current forced all moss and grime off of it, so that it gleamed.

Percy stared. It was a statue of him standing on a raised dais holding Riptide in the air. It was a good likeness, but Percy was surprised it was there anyway.

"Daddy said 'make statue of Percy', and I did!" Tyson said happily, seeing where Percy was staring.

"It's great," he said. "You're getting good at that sort of thing, man."

Tyson grinned with pride.

A hippocampus swam down from the murkiness above, nuzzling Tyson and eyeing Percy with intelligent eyes.

"Rainbow!" Tyson said, delighted. "How are you?"

The hippocampus whined softly, and nuzzled Tyson's head. He grinned and pat the hippocampus.

"Can you take Percy to Annabeth and the smelly one?" he asked.

"Smelly one? Do you mean Nico?"

Tyson nodded. "Smells yucky. Like death."

Fair point, considering Nico's position in the world. Or under it.

Rainbow whinnied like a horse and swam over to me, stopping beside Percy. He hopped on.

"Say hello for me!" Tyson said, "Hello to Annabeth and Nico!"

"Sure man," Percy said, as Rainbow started to propel himself away.

"Goodbye Percy!" Tyson said, as Percy sped upwards, towards the surface.

**Thank you to my beta, and thank you, my readers, for your reviews. Muy apreciado. So, you found out a little about Jakob. I'd just like to say one thing. None of you have guessed the right heritage yet. :D**

**That makes me glad.**

**Oh, by the way, I have another story 'Broken'. It's NicoxPercy, very, very mild slash. One of my darker stories. You may want to check it out. -shrugs-**

**Reviews make the updates come faster. ;) **


	7. VII

Due to my beta being out of the loop, as it were, this is unbetaed. When she returns it to me, I'll post it up. :)

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**Chapter seven**

**Thank you for all of your comments! I will get around to replying to them, eventually... **

**Thanks, as always, to my wonderful beta, Reading Obsession. Not only is she good, she's _fast _too. **

**

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**

It was raining on my head when I awoke. Not the greatest thing to wake up to, and especially not when my head felt like it was going to explode. I sat up, fisting my forehead, willing my headache to go away.

Opening my eyes, I saw that I was lying on a patch of grass, surrounded by trees. A little way off, I saw Giac, lying on his side. I stood up, swaying a little, before walking towards him, a little unsteady on my feet. When I was at his form, I dropped to my knees. The pounding in my head was getting worse as I shook his shoulder.

"Giac," I said, mouth slackly forming the words. "Wake up..."

I shook his shoulder again and he muttered something.

"What was that?"

"You look like David Hasselhoff..." he muttered, eyes closed. I smiled, and shook his shoulder again.

"Giac," I raised my tone, wincing as it sent a bolt of pain through my head. "Giac, wake up."

Finally, I got tired of doing that, and slapped him. His eyes opened, and his hand came up to his cheek.

"What'd you do that for?"

''Cause you wouldn't wake up," I said, trying to stand. Pain lanced through my head again and I wobbled to the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked me suspiciously.

"Yea-" I started to say, but the opening of my jaw made the pain worse. "No."

"Lemme see," he said, standing up and crouching next to me.

"No, I'm fine..." I mumbled out as his hands touched my head.

"My ass you're fine," he shot back, looking. "Ouch. What the hell did you do?"

"I got clouted in the head with a rock, I think," I said, closing my eyes. I was starting to feel nauseous.

"That must have been a hell of a rock. You need medical attention. Do you know where we are?"

"No," I said.

"And then I suppose you don't know where Nico and Annabeth are." I didn't answer and I felt him stand up.

"Come on," he said, and lifted me by the torso. "Can you walk?"

I thought about it for a second. "No."

"Come with me then," he said, half dragging me out of the clearing. We walked for a couple of minutes, before Giac set me down on a large, flat rock. He crouched beside me, holding his palm to the earth. In the direct centre, a small sapling erupted from the soil, twisting so it touched the middle of his index finger. Giac closed his eyes as I watched dumbly, and his lips moved silently. His fingertip glowed blue, and tip of the plant became a vibrant red flower. He stood up, opening his eyes again and looking at me.

"Do you know how _old _this forest is?" he asked. "Like, _centuries _old." I nodded, not really listening.

"Anyway, the trees know where Annabeth and Nico are, and they agreed to help us find them." This statement was so ridiculous that I almost laughed.

"Come on," he said, picking me back up as we continued through the woods, Giac occasionally laying his palm on one of the tree-trunks.

Finally, just as I was about to faint, we came into another clearing. There was Annabeth, sitting on a fallen log, staring at something.

"Annabeth," Giac said, walking us over to the log. I collapsed onto it, grimacing in pain.

"Oh, good. You guys are alive." There was relief in her eyes. "Nico went to scout out. He should be back soon."

"Whatcha staring at?" he asked, moving away from me.

She showed him. It was her mobile phone. It looked okay, but when she flipped it over, I saw that the battery compartment hinges were smashed, and the battery missing. She shrugged, tossing the phone away.

Suddenly the bushes rustled, and Annabeth drew her knife. Giac lay down beside her and stared at the sky.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's Nico."

And so it was.

"Uh, a little way away is a really, really small town," he said. "Like,_really_ small."

"It's as good as anything. It might have coffee," Annabeth said, sighing. "And we need to get medical attention for Jakob."

"What's wrong?" Nico asked as he, came over to me, touching the sore spot on my head. He whistled. "That's some cut."

I felt nauseous again.

"I wonder..." Nico went silent, and my head started to itch. And then it burned, but not unpleasantly so. Then it was over, and my mind was suddenly clear. I jumped up, relishing the feeling of nothing. Well, no pain anyway. I eyed Nico.

"What'd you do?"

He grinned. "New trick," he said. "When someone dies, a massive amount of energy is released. I can channel that energy into a precious stone, like this one." He pointed at the ring on his index finger on his left hand. It was a thick silver band, with tiny rubies set into it. "With that energy, a number of things are possible." Despite the morbid source, I was glad of the healing.

"Okay, shall we go to the village?" I asked them. "I'm hungry, and I also wouldn't mind some coffee."

They nodded, and together we set off, heading through the trees with Nico leading us.

After a little while, we came onto a tarmac road. The sky was still grey, but the rain had gone. There were a few houses dotted around the road, and down a dirt track, a two story building with a sign saying 'Bed and Breakfast'.

_Mmm... Breakfast._

Feeling sort of like Homer Simpson, I walked towards it, the others following.

The little bell above the door jingled as we entered the shop. It was dry, and warmth radiated from the stone fireplace on the far side of the room.

The reception counter was polished wood, and the wall paper was faded. The only illumination came from the fire, which had a collection of overstuffed chairs arranged around it.

There was an old fashioned bell on the desk, and I pushed it. The sound had barely faded when a woman moved out of the door to the desk. She was short, and dumpy, with stringy red hair. Her eyes were odd, one grey and one green, like a cat.

"Hello, children." Her voice didn't match her appearance. It was soft, high and musical. It was very pleasant to listen to.

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like being called 'children'.

"Uh, hi. We're interest in renting a room or two..." Her voice trailed off.

"Certainly. I just need your names." She moved off to the shelves.

"I'm Jakob Cilliani," I said.

"I'm Nico DiAngelo."

She took the keys off the hook.

"I'm Giac Letterman."

She walked back to us.

"I'm... Annabeth Chase," she said, after a slight hesitation.

"Well, I can certainly rent a room to such lovely children!" she said, voice even brighter than before. "Hang on a second."

She looked over her shoulder, towards the door, and yelled up the stairs, "Lily!"

She stood there, after giving a quick smile to us, her teeth chipped and broken, but perfectly white, while tapping her foot, the rapping a sharp staccato against the wooden floor.

Finally, a little girl walked down the0 stairs. She was Asian, with pretty, angular features. And she was terrified. She looked at the woman with such terror it was palpable.

"Lily, there you are you naughty girl!"

She shoved the key into Lily's hand. "I am LeBarbera, by the way."

I grinned, and almost laughed. _LeBarbera? _

But the moment passed, and the woman, _LeBarbera _ushered us upstairs. The little girl led us, into a hallway with a crimson carpet and old-fashioned wallpaper. She stopped in front of a pale-wooden door and inserted the key into the lock. It opened, and we stepped inside. It was very nice inside, with the same wallpaper and carpet from the hallway. That seemed to be the décor. There was a double bed and two singles.

Annabeth stopped in the doorway, staring in horror with her mouth open.

"Whaaaat?" asked Giac, yawning. "Get in already."

"That's what she said," Nico said promptly. "And, yeah. What's wrong?"

"I don't want to share a bed with any of _you_!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, my God. I'll share with Giac! You can have the single bed."

"Oh, I didn't think of that," she said. Though, knowing her mother, I thought this was not really possible.

She lay down on the bed, closing her eyes.

"I miss Percy," she said, suddenly.

I moved to the double with Giac, and Nico jumped onto the other single.

"Dinner is at seven," LeBarbera said. "Come along, Lily."

She roughly took the little Asian girl's hand and pulled her out of the rough, the door shutting behind her. We had one final look at Lily's terrified eyes before it closed.

"What is _wrong _with that woman?" Annabeth burst out. "That poor girl looks utterly terrified."

"Er, Annabeth, I don't think that's a woman," Nico said.

"I know, I know, I just... I feel really stressed and tired all of a sudden," she said, lying back down. "I'm going have a sleep. Wake me when it's time for dinner."

I nodded. "Okay. Oh, Annabeth? Do you have any drachmas on you?"

She fished around in her pocket for a second, before pulling out a gold coin. "We're in luck. I was going to call my dad after dinner."

"Thanks," I said, moving to the bathroom.

I turned the shower on, before freezing the tiles. Then I turned it on full-blast hot water, creating a misty steam that circulated through-out the bathroom.

"O Goddess, accept my offering." I threw the coin, and it disappeared. "Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."

The mist flickered, solidifying and forming a scene. It was Camp Half-Blood, but not in the way it was before. The lake was dirty, bits of debris floating in its waters. I frowned. Even from here I could feel the sick feeling that came when I was near polluted water. There was so much polluted water around, I was usually feeling at least a little nauseous. The forest was missing trees, and there was devastation all around. Chiron was standing in front of me, tail to me. He had a bandage wrapped around his head.

"Chiron," I said. "Chiron!"

He turned, saw me, and smiled. "Ah, young Jakob. You're alive. Are the others with you?"

"Yes."

"Good. I saw what happened last night. Mrs. O'Leary broke a couple of ribs, but she'll be fine soon. The blond-haired boy..." Chiron frowned. "He disappeared. He was odd. He had an extremely powerful scent, stronger then even Percy or Thalia. But, at the same time, he was still mortal, at least partially..." His face smoothed out. "Well, whatever he was, I'm sure we'll be informed in due time. Oh, and Hyperion is dead."

"Dead?"

"Yes, dead, well, he isn't coming back any time soon," Chiron said. "You managed to practically kill a Titan. He was crushed by the pressure when he left the atmosphere, and I last felt his drifting out of the solar system. It will take him several thousand years to get there, but it was also take him several thousand years to get back. As far as I can tell, he's missing the spark of life, but we will be careful anyway..."

We talked a little more before Chiron was called away. I said goodbye, and reluctantly waved my hand through the connection. It broke apart, and the steam dissipated.

I walked from the bathroom into the room proper. The blinds were closed, and Giac had his eyes closed. Annabeth's' were too, and her chest was rhythmically rising and falling. Nico was lying on his bed, playing with a piece of clay he seemed to have summoned.

"It's only a couple of hours until dinner. You may as well sleep too," he said. "I'll wake you when it's time."

"Thanks," I said, moving to my side of the double. Giac was in the middle so I shoved him over. He mumbled and started to snore softly.

I lay under the covers and sank into blissful unconsciousness.

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**Sorry for the filler chapter. It needed to be done. Percy and the others next chapter.**

**In the meantime, I now have a forum! You can chat, RP, spam and more. So, what are you waiting for?**

**Oh, that's right. Reviews are good. :D**


	8. VIII

**I find it so hard to write in third person...**

Percy didn't know where it was when he resurfaced. It was grey overhead and misty, not quite rain. Ahead of him was an embankment covered with trees.

Percy stretched, waved goodbye to Rainbow, and set off up the embankment, into the trees. He had only walked for about five minutes when he came to a clearing.

There was a couple of logs in the middle, and the remains of a campfire. It was pretty recent, as there were still embers glowing in the centre. Off to the side something glinted. It was Annabeth's phone.

At least he knew Annabeth had been around here, but he was still worried. Anything could have happened to her, especially considering she could have landed here by herself.

There was a disruption of the bush at the edge of the clearing, which Percy would never have recognised if he wasn't soaking wet. He'd allowed the water to soak him because it sharpened his senses.

He set off along it, eyes picking out minute details as he set along it. The trees grew thicker, and then thinner again. Finally, he came out onto a tarmac road. He was glad, because the water was starting to dry, despite the perpetual dampness, and he'd have no hope finding his way out of a forest. That was for Demeter's and Priapus's children.

The road stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see, but to the left side was a collection of houses, or Percy assumed they were houses, and other buildings. However, there was one building that caught his eye. It was on fire, or part of it anyway, smoke streaming out, fighting against the mist that made an audible sizzling sounds as it touched the flames leaping from the roof.

Percy set off towards it, having a feeling that's where Annabeth, at least, was.

"Oi, Jakob. Wake up." The voice was loud in my ear.

"Mmmph," was my highly articulate response. "Alright. I'm getting up."

It was dark outside, and the lamps were on, casting a warm glow throughout the room. Nico was standing next to the bed beside me, and Annabeth had just come out of the bathroom.

"Dinner time!" Nico said, cheerfully, but he had his sword of Stygian Iron sheathed underneath his clothes, and Annabeth was tucking her knife into her sleeve.

"You think if they're going to try anything, they'll do it tonight?" I whispered.

They nodded, and Nico said, "Do you have a weapon or anything?"

I got out of the bed, and opened the window. It was raining again, the drops splashing against the windowsill. I thrust out a hand, and the individual drops began to bind together, rippling and elongating and hardening into a sword of ice, pale blue in the dying light.

"I do now," I said.

Nico looked at it dubiously. "Won't it melt? And how are you going to conceal it?"

"No it won't melt. Er, hang on." I concentrated, and it shortened, water dripping onto the floor. The blade became thinner, and it sharpened to a point.

"There," I said, sticking it in my pocket.

Nico rolled his eyes, and turned to Annabeth. "Ready?" he asked her.

"Yes, we just have to wait for Giac."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"I'm right here," he said, sliding back into the door, shutting it behind him. "You take _forever _in the bathroom, Annabeth."

She blushed, and muttered something I didn't hear.

A hesitant knock on the door interrupted what I was about to say. I opened it and saw the same Asian girl from before.

"Dinner is served," she said in a quiet, meek voice. "Follow me."

She walked away, down the hall, and we followed her, down the stairs, through the hall, and into the dining-room.

"Hello, dears!" LeBarbera said, placing the last fork down on the table. The dining room had crimson wallpaper, and the floor was chequered wood. It was hard to believe something bad could happen in a place like this, but as a demigod, you learned not to take things on face value.

"Please, seat yourselves," she said, smiling. "Dinner will be out in a minute! You, come with me." She grabbed Lily's hand and hefted her out of the room.

We sat there in silence, waiting for the woman to come back. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling like a deadly sculpture, teardrops of crystal sharpened to deadly points, hanging straight down. The table cloth was the colour of blood, and golden candlesticks lined the middle, mingling with clear crystal bowls of flower petals. The effect was rather ostentatious.

"Dinner is served!" LeBarbera said, walking back into the room carrying a large serving platter with a lid on top, like a chef's platter. Lily trailed behind with another, smaller platter.

LeBarbera dropped it on the table, and opened the lid with a flourish. Heaped on the platter was what appeared to be pork, glazed with a rich liquid that smelled of plum sauce. My mouth watered.

Lily set hers down next to LeBarbera's, and took the lid off. It was fried rice, with shallots and tiny prawns. It looked really good too.

She sat ladled generous amounts of food onto plates—none for Lily, I saw—and set them down in front of us. Then she plonked herself down at the head of the table and gestured with her hands.

"Eat up!" she said in her melodic voice.

I stared at my food. It looked inviting, with the steam curling off my plate and sending the scent of it up my nose. Like, it smelt really good.

I peered at LeBarbera, who still hadn't touched her food. Instead she was gazing at us with interest bright in her eyes.

"Er, as the host, I think you should have the first taste," I said to her, laying on the charm. I don't know whether it worked or not, but she smiled at me, with her oddly broken, very white teeth, and put a large spoonful in her mouth.

"Delicious, if I do say so myself," she said, in a good mood. Her eyes were bright, though, and I didn't trust her or her food for a second.

"That's good enough for me," Giac said, digging in. After a minute, so did Nico, and then Annabeth reluctantly joined in, all three of them gaining enthusiasm as they dug in. I still didn't trust it. I looked at it cautiously, picked up a small spoonful and put it in mouth.

It _was _good. Like, really good.

We ate quickly, except for me, and they were all done in ten minutes except for me. I only ate that spoonful, instead pushing the rest of it around my plate. If it proved fine, I would just go hungry for the night. I didn't trust her and I'm sure she would soon give me a reason not to.

I was right. The instant we finished eating, LeBarbera clasped her hands together, in an almost bored way.

"Any second, now," she said in an impatient voice, the harsh tone marring her beautiful voice.

The first one was Giac.

"I, uh, don't feel so good," he said, patting his stomach suspiciously. "Maybe I shouldn't have—"

That was as far as he got before his eyes rolled back and he went limp in his chair.

"Giac?" said Annabeth, whose chair was the closest to his. "What...?"

She went limp too. As did Nico, after a minute of fighting.

"Finally," LeBarbera said, and then seemed to realise I wasn't asleep.

A claw extended from her fingernail, and she played with it absentmindedly.

"You, Jakob, are becoming a problem," she said, in a tone indicating that I had done that I had done something wrong.

More claws grew from her fingers, and her face became reptilian, until I was staring at the reptilian thing from the gym. And I was terrified.

Her voice was wrong though, because it was still beautiful and high, like wind across glass wine flutes, but it somehow added to malevolence.

A fireball erupted from her hand, which hardly seemed fair, and she hissed at me.

"Die, Jakob." Then the fireball was flung at me and I was under the table as the fireball set my chair on fire. The others slept on.

"Stop trying to escape!" she said, throwing another fireball.

It was incredibly bizarre; three sleeping guests, a small girl cower in a corner, a reptilian monster throwing fireballs at me with still hot Chinese food on the table. I would have laughed if the last fireball hadn't singed the back of my hair.

I managed to pull my sword out of my pocket, but the ice was melting even as I reformed it. It wouldn't last long even if a fireball didn't hit it square on.

Which, of course, it did, so I was left with a hand of dripping water, smoking hair and a reptilian monster who probably wanted to eat me.

Instead, I made the entire fixture in the kitchen come alive, flooding the dining room.

She howled, and lobbed another fire ball at me as she inhaled a gob of water.

I ducked down, the fireball tearing through the wall as though it was made of rice-paper.

I instructed the ice to freeze, and it did. LeBarbera was trapped, but she was glowing, and around her the ice was melting.

She spat a large chunk of ice out of her mouth and yelled at me.

"You're going to die for that! And your puny friends with you!" I couldn't believe they were still sleeping, but they were out of the count, reclining in their dining chairs that were tipped slightly backwards, frozen in the ice.

She glowed so much it hurt my eyes to look, and then the ice shattered, razor sharp needles travelling around the room. I sent them towards her, but they melted on contact.

I suddenly felt woozy, which worried me greatly. Perhaps I should stop doing all this water-bending.

_I need a weapon, _I thought.

But weapons were all out, and unless I wanted to die, I had to keep using my powers.

She leapt at me and I rolled aside, sliding on the ice. She twisted and threw another fire ball at me. It missed, barely, and as I threw myself right I ordered the ice to rise as a shield between me and her.

The house was on fire, gaps in the roof letting the rain in. I felt better as it touched my face, but the blackness pressing at the edge of my vision wasn't a good feeling.

Instead of going around the ice, she simply jumped over it, wrecking part of the ceiling in doing so. I ran to Annabeth, the black closing in. He knife was in her pocket and I barely had time to pull it out before LeBarbera was at me.

I simply struck out, completely unsure what to do. Her talons raked my arm, blood immediately welling up and running down my arm.

But the knife touched her, and she recoiled, hissing. It wasn't a direct hit, but her arm was hissing, putrid yellow sand sprinkling across the ice as her arm disintegrated. Unfortunately, it stopped when it reached her neck, but she was at least unbalanced and missing an arm, so I supposed I now stood sort of a chance.

"This is madness!" she said, and I swallowed back a _300 _reference. Now was hardly the time. "I will rent you limb from limb!"

She spat a fork of flame, and jumped at me, good arm poised, talons gleaming.

So, I did all I could. I stood and thrust the knife in her heart.

She screamed, the sound inhumane and gut-wrenching in my ear.

Then she was gone, and simple dust spread over the ice.

I dropped the knife with a clatter, sinking down. Red stained my vision, and there was a dull pain in my cheek. I touched it and my hand came away with blood.

It was too much to handle at the moment, and my brain shut down for repairs.

_Where am I?_

_That was my first thought. The last thing I remember was killing LeBarbera. And that was somewhere rainy and cold. _

_This new place wasn't anything like this. I was in a place sort of like the dining pavilion; only the pillars had walls between them. It was open to the sky, and I could see the moon and a sprinkling of the stars._

"_Beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice behind me, making me jump. _

_I turned around, and forgot my name, my face, my friends, everything._

_This woman was utterly, breathtakingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. But I couldn't remember anything about her appearance, afterwards, only that she was beautiful._

"_Aphrodite," I breathed._

_She nodded, and then frowned. It disrupted her power long enough for me to look down, which made my mind a bit less scattered._

"_You aren't the right one!" she exclaimed, and I fought the urge to look up._

"_I'm...sorry?" I asked, unsure if this was the right thing to do._

"_Oh, you'll do," she said, her voice a bit more down to earth. She strode over to a throne on the other side of the room, seating herself. _

_I still looked at the ground, but I turned to face her general direction._

"_You wish to know about your parents?" she asked me._

_This got my attention. I found that if I squinted slightly, her appearance didn't have such an effect on me._

"_Yes, very much," I said. _

"_Unfortunately I'm not allowed to tell you," she said, in a huffy voice. "I've been... forbidden. The nerve!" she exclaimed, voice getting higher. "But, no matter, I will tell you what I can."_

"_Why?" I asked suspiciously. From what I've heard, the gods and goddess don't exactly do things for us out of the goodness of their hearts._

"_Because you're a very handsome boy! Well, you were," she said delightedly. "You look very much like him!" _

"_Er, right," I said. Perhaps it's better not to ask._

"_All I can tell you." She paused dramatically, "Is that three years ago, Annabeth and Percy came to Mt. Olympus."_

_I waited for more, but there wasn't._

"_Is that all?" I said. _

"_It is, unfortunately. And because you're dreaming, we have such little time together." She sighed."In fact, you're about to wake up, Jakob."_

"_What?"_

"Jakob." The tone was firm, female, and very familiar. I opened my eyes and found myself staring at Annabeth. She hissed her breath between her teeth, and her grey eyes looked at me concernedly.

"That looks like it hurts," she said.

**So, there you go. Sorry for the wait, I've had writer's block, my last few days of school, and I got my learner's licence. Nearly ran over some people, but that's okay...**

**So, yeah, that's it. It's my birthday on the first of July, so expect an update a little after that. Thanks, as always, to my AWESOME beta for doing an excellent job (and fast too!).**

**Reviews are very much appreciated. :D**

**Oh, and I need more RPer's on my forum. Gettin' very lonely.**


	9. IX

**Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites. **_**Especially **_**the reviews. **

**As always, thank you to my beta, Reading Obsession. You rock. :)**

I touched the scars on my cheek, wincing at the pain. I was looking in the mirror, frowning at my reflection. Four long parallel cuts scored my cheek where that drakken... thing, swiped me with its claws.

I turned away from the mirror, unhappy with my reflection. We were still in the thing's house, the fire put out and Lily freed. Without the malevolent presence that had invaded the bed and breakfast when we arrived, the place was actually very welcoming.

Percy, Nico, Lily, Annabeth, Giac and I were now installed in different bedrooms, though I was still sharing, this time with Nico. There weren't really enough to have one each, and it was discovered that Lily didn't actually have a bed, or a room. She was forced to sleep on the floor in the kitchen. Since most nights she ran into Percy and Annabeth's room with nightmares, it was decided she would sleep there, leaving one spare room, which Giac quickly took. This left Nico and me in one room, Percy, Annabeth and Lily in another, and Giac all to himself.

We'd been there for five days. In that time, it had rained really,_ really_ hard, and misted a little. However, over the past day or so, it was almost hot, the sun even having the good grace to show itself.

We were moving off the next day, back to Camp. I had Iris Messaged Camp, and transport had been arranged.

Walking out of the bathroom, fingers still gently probing my cheek, I lay down in the bed. According to the clock on the bedside table, it was one in the morning, but I couldn't sleep. Nico was completely silent. He sleeps like the dead.

...Which isn't really surprising, now that I think about it.

I turned on my side, willing myself to drift off to sleep. It doesn't ever really work. I remember when I was little...

I sat bolt upright, all thoughts of sleep forgotten, desperately trying to hold onto the memory. But it faded away, and I lay back again, frustrated.

It was bothering me, but I still couldn't remember anything from about two years ago. It was absolutely infuriating, and it made me wonder if I had some sort of mental problem. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind—no use worrying about what I can't change—I settled back down, trying to sleep.

Dawn came before sleep did, and I settled into a sort of half-dozing, half awake, and fraught with dreams of snowy nights and memories I don't quite remember.

**oOo**

I was pulled out of the dream by Nico, who shook my shoulder.

"Hey, Jakob. Geddup."

I opened my eyes, instantly alert. The sunlight was filtering through the windows, and Nico was standing beside my bed, two cups of something with steam curling off the top.

"Here you go," he said, handing me one, before leaving the room. "We leave in about an hour," he said over his shoulder.

I drank the coffee eagerly, before hopping out of the bed and heading towards the shower. After my shower, I redressed and came downstairs. Everyone was assembled, including Lily who was clutching Giac's hand.

"Obviously, we're taking her with us. She said that a glowing thing appeared over her head, and that's why LeBarbera took her," he said, still clutching her hand as she bobbed her head rapidly. "We're trying to help her remember exactly what it was, but no luck so far."

I nodded, and we stayed in the kitchen for the rest of the wait, just talking. Soon a car horn sounded outside, and we left the building.

It never ceased to amaze me how easily modern technology blended seamlessly with Greek mythology. In front of us was a sleek black hair, with a Pegasus mascot on the hood.

The car tooted again, and we got inside. It was warm outside, but the temperature inside the car was cool.

It was fully stocked, with a large bar fridge, a flat screen television, and three black leather-covered stretch seats.

"Argus, good to see ya!" Nico said, as one of the eyes on the back of his neck winked in affirmation. Lily stood still, transfixed with the man in front of her.

"Why does he have eyes everywhere?" she whispered to Percy.

He shrugged. "I... don't know. Don't worry, though, he won't hurt you."

Lily nodded, but still stuck close to the older man.

They all sat down, and the car moved off smoothly, away from the Bed and Breakfast.

I went to sit down, but something jabbed me in the thigh. I felt around for the object, already knowing what it was, and pulled out a lipstick tube. I sighed, replacing it in his pocket.

Since I had woken from my dream with Aphrodite, this lipstick tube had followed me around relentlessly. Nico, Giac and Percy had laughed at it, and Annabeth had suppressed a smile and turned away. However, when the tube was uncapped, it formed a straight-edged sword, celestial bronze with a sapphire set into the hilt. Sort of like Percy's pen, but far, far more embarrassing. And since it seemed to be charmed to follow me, there was no way I could get rid of it.

"Have the camp's magical borders been restored yet?" Annabeth asked Argus. He shook his head, worryingly. "But it's protected, isn't it?" He nodded, and Annabeth settled back, relieved.

We drove for a long time, stopping only for bathroom breaks, which Annabeth took frequently. It was pleasant inside the limousine, and I managed to catch a few hours sleep between stops. We stopped for the last time outside a hotel. Night had fallen, and the night was lit by millions of stars, which usually weren't able to be seen from Long Island.

We piled out into the cool night air. We must have travelled quite a bit, because there was absolutely no trace of rain here. It was a very pleasant climate, actually, and I was glad there was finally _no rain._

The hotel in front of us blazed with light, a large neon sign saying 'Delphino Hotel'.

"Looks promising," Giac said, as we walked into the lobby, Lily holding Annabeth's hand this time. Percy crossed to the desk, opening the piece of paper that Argus had thrust into his hand before exiting the car.

"Jackson," he said, reading the paper. "That's my last name, but I already know that...? Why would Argus give me this?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Give it here stupid," she said, snatching the paper from his hand. She strode up to the desk, where the pretty receptionist smiled at her. Behind Annabeth's back, Percy poked his tongue out, and Nico snorted.

"The reservation is under 'Jackson'," Annabeth said to her.

The receptionist turned to the computer screen, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"Ah, the penthouse suite," she said, brightly. "Here are your keys..." she gave a small packet labelled _299 _to Annabeth. "And go right up," she finished, smiling.

"Thank you," Annabeth said, smiling, before elbowing past Percy, clutching Lily's hand and gently leading the group to the elevator. "Come on," she said impatiently. "I'm hungry."

So, we all piled into the elevator, and it shot up, straight to the thirtieth floor.

**oOo**

Icicle-blue eyes watched through the window of the lobby as the stupid fools got into the elevator. The doors closed, and the elevator moved upwards, towards the suite.

The mouth underneath the eyes smiled. His plan was that much closer to fruition...

**Sorry for the shortness, but I have something major for the next chapter.**

–**coughcharacterdeathcough- **

**So you'll just have to wait for that.**

**Oh, I've decided I'll do a story recommendations thing. The first one is ****The Rise of Percy Jackson**** by **_**PurpleLightning12**_**. Her grammar and spelling is a bit iffy, but the story itself is pretty good. The second one is ****Flying Sparks**** by, oddly enough, **_**sparks flying. **_**It's a very good **_**Hunger Games **_**story.**

**I have a poll where you can vote on Jakob's heritage. I also have a formspring, where you can ask my questions about my stories. Please do. What happened to all my reviewers? I feel sad. :(**

**Joking. :DD**

**Okay, I've wasted enough words on this author's note... (122 words, to be exact.)**

**So, bye. **

**November Rising **


	10. X

**-coughs-**

**Okay, allow me to say this, once and for all: **

**You ready?**

**JAKOB DOESN'T HAVE ANNABETH AND PERCY AS PARENTS! NOPEEE. It's not true. Stop telling me it is. People who are suggesting other Gods and Titan's, you're wrong, but the children of Titans **_**do **_**make appearances in this fic, so half-marks. I plan to keep it ambiguous until the last chapter, but **_**Jakob **_**himself will find out.**

**Thanks to Reading Obsession as always for the betaing. **

"Can we order room service?" asked Lily, as we all sat in the living room. It was a very nice hotel, and more than big enough, with clean glass windows and beige couch covers.

"I'm okay with that," Annabeth said, to which Nico and Giac nodded. I sighed as I felt the lipstick tube return to my pocket.

She walked to the phone, plucking the room service menu off of the end-table as she did so. The moon shone in through the windows, gathering in the pools of darkness where the light of the lamps didn't reach. Argus had installed himself at the door as guard, but it seemed peaceful here, and I felt safer than I had since camp. Like, part of the real world. Normality didn't exist when you were a demigod, and you grew to miss it.

Annabeth passed the card to Nico, who passed it to Giac who passed it to—I think you get the idea. She ordered, and we sat down, talking a little, but mostly just resting, finally.

**oOoooOo**

There was only one kitchen staff in the alley way which divided the buildings. He was stuffing trash into the Dumpster at the mouth of the alley.

Excellent target. Dempsey walked forwards, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes. The kitchen hand noticed him as Dempsey walked out of the shadows.

"Oh, sorry, you aren't meant to be—"

He didn't finish his sentence. Dempsey held out his hand and the man was sent flying into a brick wall.

"No, I'm good," Dempsey said, checking the man's vitals. He was still breathing, only a couple of bones broken.

The kitchen hand was dazed. "What the- How did you...?" He couldn't form a coherent sentence.

"Your persistence to live is beginning to annoy me." Dempsey clutched his fist in front of the kitchen hand's face, grinning as he looked at the hand.

The man's hands flew to his throat as all the air in his body was forcefully expelled out of his mouth and nose. He grunted, face turning white and then purple as he struggled for breath. Finally he released his clutch on the world and drifted into the afterlife.

Dempsey smiled again, releasing his fist and the slight headache he always got when he used his powers extensively. Then he crouched back down and set to work.

Five minutes later, dressed in the uniform of the hand he'd killed, Dempsey walked into the kitchen in a whirl of steam. It was busy in there, and Dempsey strolled around like he owned the place. Luckily for everyone involved, Dempsey didn't see any resistance. He walked to the loading area, and encountered a series of rolling dining carts, each with a number on them. There were only some with food on them, one of which was _299. _

Dempsey already knew that this was the floor where _they _were. He almost subconsciously touched the side of his face with long fingers, feeling the faint bruise where that stupid hellhound had ploughed him into the dirt. He would have had them that night if it wasn't for than infuriating dog.

_But no matter, _he thought. _They won't be escaping this time._

Dempsey chose not to manically laugh like most do after a thought like that, instead tapping a chef on the shoulder.

"Is that ready to go?" he asked the man, jerking his thumb at cart.

The chef told him very bluntly that _yes _it _was, _and Dempsey resisted the urge to see what the man would look like painted across the wall. He simply turned away, breathing heavily through his nose, and denting the bar he pushed the cart by a little.

He walked out of the kitchen, into the hall, and then into the lobby, crossing to the elevator whilst barging a fat woman and her date out of the way.

"Sorry," he said, grinning at the offended woman. "Important business."

The doors slid shut and he pressed the button for the twenty-ninth floor. Well, there were actually twenty-eight floors, but they had simply skipped the thirteen floor, the numbers flickering from eleven to twelve to fourteen to fifteen.

Dempsey hated superstition, and the hotel's quirk served to make him angrier. His mother had worried about his temper, but the stupid woman should have known better, better than whom my father was.

This calmed him down a little, and his bent his head under the small cap that the man had as a uniform. In retrospect, he should have gotten a hotel staff's uniform, but that couldn't be helped. Quickly he opened each of the dishes, sprinkling powder from a small vial over food in inconspicuous places. Nodding his assent, he replaced the vial in his pocket and put the trays back the way they were.

He walked to the door, keeping his head down.

He knocked, and making his voice slightly higher than usual, said "Room service!"

There was some mumbling over the other side of the door, followed by someone saying, "I'll get it."

The door was opened, and a teenager stood there. That damn Jakob. Same black hair, same grey eyes. The fool still had no idea. He did have four parallel scars running across his left cheek though, and Dempsey decided he'd give a medal to the monster that did it. If it wasn't dead already.

"Thanks," he said, taking the car and pushing a fifty-dollar note into Dempsey's hand.

"You're most welcome," Dempsey said, grinning. Jakob paused.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"Nope," Dempsey said quickly, walking down the stairs. He heard the door close behind him, and grinned, descending the stairs loudly, and then creeping quietly back up them.

**oOoooOo**

_Snow capped trees. The scent of grapes in the air. A winding mansion built into a hilltop. A palace, blazing with light. Two figures, a guy and a girl, moving away from the building. Towards a smaller one._

_One leaving, the other staying. Brief pain. Nothingness._

I gasped as I awoke, struggling against the chair to which I was bound. The room was cold, freezing the sweat that had accumulated on my brow.

I fought, fought desperately to hold onto the memory that was just at the tip of my consciousness, but it slipped away from me, like water droplets off of glass. I sighed, leaning back, before realizing that I wasn't in the hotel. In fact, I realized that I was in imminent danger.

The room was bare, except for a door and small window. The windows weren't barred, and the doors looked flimsy enough to break, but I couldn't move. Rough rope bound me, tying me to the simple wooden chair underneath me.

There was someone beside me, their warmth leaking out into the room. I could turn my head, and did, looking to my left.

There was Annabeth, head lolled forwards onto her chest, still unconsciousness.

"Annabeth," I said, trying to struggle out of my bonds, the chair banging against the floor. "Annabeth!"

This seemed to rouse her, because she sat up and looked at me blearily. "Jakob, where... where are we?" She frowned.

"I don't know," I said. "I think—"

The door banged open, and in strolled the teenager we last saw at camp. He looked even taller now, fierce and commanding.

"Oh good. You're awake. We can begin." His tone was colder than a nuclear winter. "First of all, I am Dempsey, and you're both going to die. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's the truth."

_We aren't going to die,_ I thought. _We aren't._

He crossed to Annabeth.

"Sweet, sweet Annabeth. You will serve me well," he said. "My father is Boreas, God of North Winds. Apparently I inherit his looks and temper." He smiled briefly. "I serve one true master, one greater than Gods and Titans. He is the beginning and the end of all civilisations. He's the sky, he's everything. My master is Ouranos. "

He paused to draw breath. "Because I am only the son of a god, I need to be stronger. And I am, because the collective life force of children of the twelve Olympians runs through me." He regarded us with a calculating look. "I am four hundred years old. I can appear in any form I wish, and I can manipulate my powers for hours and not feel any strain. Do you get it? I am more powerful than any other half-human in the world!"

His chest rose and fell erratically, and I wondered if he was entirely sane. But there was nothing I could do but sit there.

"Unfortunately, I am still not as powerful as I could be. I am missing the life force from one more person, a child of Athena."

He looked at Annabeth. "Annabeth, you always claimed you were smart. Where do you think this is going?"

"Go to Hell," Annabeth said, disdain evident in her voice. "You won't touch me."

"Oh, but I will." Dempsey crossed to Annabeth, holding some weird potion. He pinched her nose as she struggled against the chair and him. I reached out, trying to reach her, but I was thrown back by an unbelievably cold wind. Annabeth finally couldn't take in anymore and breathed in through her mouth. Quick as a fox, Dempsey tipped the silver potion down her throat.

Annabeth gargled, her eyes going wide. Then she slumped in her chair.

"Annabeth!" I yelled as the wind turned into a tornado. Her body lifted from the chair, ropes twisting and fraying, crumpling into dust around her.

She disappeared in a whirl of silver stars. Dempsey threw his head back as a silver stream coiled into the air. The gleaming thread whirled down, striking Dempsey in the face.

This was all I saw, because then my vision turned red, and then black. The anger I felt, at Annabeth's death, at Dempsey, even at my parents from abandoning me, welled up inside and exploded forwards.

When I awoke, sunlight hit my face. I was first aware of an enormous pounding headache and a fatigue that ran deep in my bones. I was lying on a concrete floor, the water around me not touching my clothes. Ragged remains of the room we were in were strewn around me, and Dempsey was nowhere to be found.

_She's dead, Annabeth is dead. _That was my first thought. And then the second came after my first, my mind exploding with information.

_I know who my parents are._


	11. XI

[Beta version]

**Review replies: (because I'm too lazy to individually reply)**

**NinjaPotter5: **I'm glad. Your other review scared me.

**Orochi-Ne: **Sorry, you're wrong. :( I may check out your story, one day I have time.

**Lady Chocobo: **Tara! Ily. :) Thanks for the review!

**lily potter: **You're wrong, sorry.

**Avalonfreak: **Thank you once again for your review. All of your guesses are wrong, but good job trying anyway. I dislike those stories too. Like, God. Poor Nico.

**Emedy Linaira: **Thanks for the review! I personally wanted to do something scandalous. Just cause I could. Lily _will _play a big part, and there will be more character death before this is out.

**Ralor: **Thank you for the awesome two reviews. I'm sorry if it seemed rushed, sometimes I tend to do that. I'm sorry, you're wrong, and I didn't actually mean the rain as anything, FYI. I think. I noticed that you're from Jamaica. That's pretty cool. :D

**: **Wow. Run on sentences. Uh, thanks for the review, and I killed her off because I wanted to, and it was instrumental to the plot.

**David-El: **Thanks for the continued support for my story. All will be explained by the closing of the story.

**Anna Jackson: **Thanks!

**Haris: **Wrong, but nice try.

**riptide2010: **Thanks for the review!

Finally, I may have led you to some misconceptions. Sorry for that, and don't crucify me. The story is winding down, only about six chapter left to go, or so.

**o)(o**

"Urghhh."

Giac blinked, waking up in a concrete room, devoid of any personalization. The only other feature apart from the wooden chair he was tied to was Lily, who was also tied to a chair.

"Lily," he asked her, testing the ropes. "You awake?"

"Giac, where are we?" she asked, scared.

"Uh... I don't know," he said. "Can you get loose?"

"No..." her voice trailed off.

"Hang on," he said. He frowned, wiggling his palm just enough so that it pointed to the concrete below. Concentrating, he closed his eyes and pictured a plant erupting from the grey floor. He felt the familiar sick-feeling tug in his stomach, but nothing happened.

He pushed harder, and the nausea got worse.

"Urk... I don't feel so good..." he said, before vomiting and blacking out.

A hairline crack ran through the concrete, but nothing more.

**o)(o**

_Ugh..._

There was a sour taste in his mouth. He blinked awake, and was surprised when he saw Lily standing in front of him.

"Are you awake?" she asked.

"Yeah... How did you get out of the chair?" Giac asked her, curious.

Her face clouded over. "I don't know," she said, pointing at a pile of ashes. "You fainted, and I felt funny, and then I fell on the floor."

"Wow, you did that?" he asked, pointing at the ashes.

She nodded. "I think so."

"Could you do it again?" Giac asked. "To me? Well, not to me, but to my chair."

She shrugged. "Don't know. I'll try," she said, uncertainly.

She walked around behind him, and he felt the rope move slightly.

After a couple of minutes, when Giac was about to ask her to give up, there was a crackle, a flash of light, and a blast of heat. The ropes went slack.

"Good job," Giac said, jumping out of the chair and carefully avoiding the pool of vomit. "Let's get out of here."

He pushed against the door. It was locked. He tried to judge the thickness, before stepping back, pulling Lily back as well.

"You might want to close your eyes too," he said, frowning. "I don't know exactly how this is going to play out."

He could taste earth on the other side of the door, so close, separated by only a wooden door. He concentrated, and felt the same nausea, though it was far milder. And it had more spectacular results.

A _very_ large, thick vine smashed through the door, splinters flying around the room. As the dust and debris cleared, Giac opened his eyes and grinned. The vine shuddered and pulled away, back into the earth.

"Come on, Lily. Let's get out of here." He grabbed her hand and they stepped outside into bright sunlight.

It was pleasantly warm, and Giac felt optimistic. A plant formed itself beside him, filled with clear water. He drank until the sour taste in his mouth disappeared, and offered it to Lily, who also drank.

Finally, they set off into the trees, in the direction that the trees said Camp Half-Blood was.

**o)(o**

Percy had a pounding headache when he awoke. That was alright though, because the pain gave him a focus for his oddly fractured thoughts.

Slowly, he started to piece together what had happened.

_They'd eaten the food, and felt kind of funny. He had stumbled across the room, and then... nothing._

But there was no immediate danger here. It was a plain concrete room, with a flimsy door and a single window, not barred. Percy was in there alone.

He was tied to a chair, rough rope and simple wood. He began to struggle against it, and would probably have succeeded, if the effort hadn't made him so lightheaded. He was in danger of blacking out.

He sat there for maybe an hour, half-dozing as he regained his strength. It was as he was finally regaining his strength that he heard footsteps outside.

Bracing himself in case the person who was outside was the one who had tied him up in the first place—which it very likely was—Percy struggled against the bonds. Unfortunately he still wasn't strong enough, and as he sat back in the chair, the door finally burst open.

"Argus!" Percy exclaimed as he saw who was standing in the doorway. "I'm so glad to see you, man."  
Argus winked at him, before simply ripping the ropes away from the chair.

"How did you find me?" Percy asked as he stood up. Argus simply smiled and tapped the side of his head with a long finger.

"Eh, doesn't matter. Hey, do you know where Annabeth and everyone else are?"

Argus frowned and shook his head.

"Oh, well, let's go find them."

They walked outside, Percy stretching in the sunlight.

"Hey, do you know where to go?" he asked Argus. Argus nodded, and set off into the trees. Percy looked around for a moment, shrugged, and walked after Argus.

**o)(o**

_He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what he was doing. Branches cut his face and arms, whipping at him as he staggered past them, walking forward, always forward from the place in the woods. _

She's dead, Annabeth's dead... _he thought, despair evident in the tears that ran down his face, mixing with the blood that ran from the cuts on his face. The warmth that had shined on his back faded, and the stars in the night sky lent little comfort. _

_He didn't know when, but he finally stumbled out of the trees, onto a two lane highway. It must have been very late, because there was very little traffic. He walked along it, going faster, the trip being easier because he wasn't stepping over branches and going around trees. _

_He didn't know where he was going, just that he needed to _go_, before Dempsey found him. He needed to warn everyone, and needed to tell them of Annabeth's death. _

_The highway ended as the rain began to fall, _again. _Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was annoyed, but it washed all of the blood, sweat and tears away. _

_He was walking along a road with houses on either side of him, when he tripped over a rock. He crashed to the ground, skinning his elbows and lay there in a heap, crying again._

_The last thing he felt before exhaustion took him was gentle, cold hands, which lifted him softly from the ground._

**o)(o**

I was lying underneath something soft, unusually comfortable.

_That's strange, _I thought, as I pulled the covers off of myself. I was in my own clothes, but they were clean and smelled faintly like lemon.

I was about to get up, feeling in danger, when I saw the cursed lipstick tube on the table beside the bed.

_Oh, that's right, I have a sword now... _I thought, rolling my eyes. Then I remembered what had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

_Oh, _I thought, the smile sliding off my face. However, before I had time to lament upon what had happened, a woman came bustling into the room with a tray.

She had straight black hair, pulled neatly into a bun at the top of her head. Her skin was pale, but not overly so, and she looked in her late thirties. But what struck me were her peculiar grey-green eyes.

"Hey," I said, suddenly realising who she was. "You're Grace's mum, aren't you?"

She nodded, putting the tray down in front of me. The smell of toast wafted up my nose and my stomach growled unhappily.

"Yes I am," she said. "And you're lucky I found you when I did. A monster had been following you for goodness knows how long. Now, eat up. We have a lot to do."

I devoured the food, already feeling a lot better, and quite safe with Grace's mother.

"How's Grace?" I asked her, and looked at her face. She remained impassive, but her eyes hardened.

"She died in the battle against Hyperion," Alice—who's name I had come to know—said, before continuing with her plans, not relating to her daughter.

_So many dead already..._

"Are you full?" she asked me, taking the tray. I nodded.

"Come on then, let's go. I have a feeling in my gut that there's going to be a large show down at Camp."

I nodded, kicking off the covers and jumping out of bed. I followed Alice down the stairs of the small house, the sun beaming in through the windows. It was a beautiful day outside, the rain gone again. How fickle the weather is. It rains for three whole days, and then suddenly sunlight fills the next.

_Why am I thinking about the weather? My friend just died. _And then I stopped dead.

_Oh, Gods. What am I going to tell Percy?_

**Boo. It's me again. Yeah, sorry, writer's block, RL, the works. You know how it is.**

**Think we can get to 80 reviews? That'd be good. **

**Thanks to my Beta, Reading Obsession. Now, if she'd just hurry up and post a story, I could read that, too.**

**:)**

**November Rising.**


	12. XII

**[Same deal as last time. This is the unbetaed version. Betaed version will come soon]**

**Long AN at the bottom.**

**Enjoy.**

**Sorry for the shortness, my creativeness just went out the window. :(**

**Thanks as always to Reading Obsession. You rock. :)**

**

* * *

**

Nico was having an excellent time.

Granted, most people would find riding around a forest on a hellhound to be a quite frightening thing, and not actually at all fun, but then, Nico wasn't just people.

He had awakened to find himself in a plain room, and it was a simple matter to call Mrs O'Leary. She'd apparently recovered from her mishap with whoever that guy was, and had romped into the room through the very large hole she'd made in the wall.

After totally drenching Nico with dog slobber, he'd instructed her to bite the ropes. After that, it was a simple matter to climb on her back and instructed her to run away from the cell-thing.

Now they were running through the woods, and Nico was preparing for shadow travel.

"Come on, Mrs O'Leary. We got to get back to camp," he said, patting her as she whined beneath him. "Enough."

Ten minutes later, when Mrs O'Leary was finally finished sniffing at the plants and trees, she was finally ready to shadow travel with Nico.

"Come on, girl," he said. "Let's go already."

She _arroffed, _and jumped into speedy, pressing, inky-black darkness. Nico actually enjoyed the ride, and was sorry to see it end.

Camp Half-Blood was never more dreary then it was the moment Nico materialized in its midst, the black darkness that cocooned him dissipating into the cold night air.

There were smoking ruins everywhere, with burnt and blackened trees, and cabins that slowly smoked. There were people, making rounds, some supporting others. There were lights scattered around the camp, with most of them concentrated around or on the dining pavilion.

He settled Mrs O'Leary, tying her leash to a tree that still had most of its leaves. He gave her a dog-bone, and set off down the hill, into the camp proper.

"Oh, Nico, you're here," said Jessica, a Hermes camper three years younger than him. "I'm glad you're still alive. I think Chiron would probably like to see you." She turned and pointed. "He's at the back of the dining pavilion," she said, before walking off.

Nico nodded to her back and walked forward, up the stairs of the pavilion. There were makeshift stairs all around, as many people walked to and fro from the pavilion.

The tables had been swept off in the attack, splinters off wood and scraps of purple and white cloth could be seen over the far edge of the pavilion. The support columns were destroyed, with great hunks of marble all around the pavilion and only the bases remained. The marble floor was cracked, with deep gouges in it, but had faired quite well, overall. The brazier where they burnt food had survived, and now crackled warmly with red and orange light. There were beds all around, in neat, orderly rows. Most of the beds were occupied, with some all too familiar faces of the people who helped defend camp.

"Nico, my son," Chiron said, looking warmly at him. "It's good to see you alive, and well. We shall need all the help we can get. I trust the others are with you?"

Nico frowned. "No, we were separated when he drugged us, I think."

Chiron frowned. "Perhaps you better tell me what happened, from the beginning," he said.

And so, Nico recounted his tale, pausing only to draw breath. It was properly dark by the time he finished, and Chiron's brow became more and more crinkled with concern.

"This is most worrying," he said. "I can only hope—"

"Chiron, sir!" yelled a camper from over the edge of the hill. "People approach. It's hard to see who it is!"

Chiron frowned deeper. "We must get the boundary back up," he said to Nico. "Come with me, please. I have a feeling I shall need back up on this."

He _clip-clopped _off the pavilion, and Nico followed, into the cold night.

* * *

Jakob was staring out the window of the car driven by Alice. It was driving rain, as usual, and every drop splattered on the windshield of the Toyota Camry sounded louder than a gunshot inside the silent, air conditioned space of the car.

Jakob was miles away from the present situation, still in the room where he'd seen his friend robbed of her essence in order to feed a power-hungry egomaniac bent on taking over the world.

Jakob sighed. It was like a B-grade movie. Pity it wasn't. Because in a B-grade movie, everything works out for the best. He wasn't sure it was going to happen here.

This only occupied a small part of his mind. The greater part was tackling the problem of, _How was he going to tell Percy that he'd watched his girlfriend die and not done anything about it?_

He was still no closer to an answer, and decided to put it out of his mind for a while. He straightened, and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly, but it wasn't sound.

**

* * *

**

Giac and Lily, meanwhile, were tromping through the rain. They seemed totally and permanently wet, and sooner or later were going to have to resort to taking a car. Giac could drive, though he wasn't usually allowed to unless with an adult. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Right, Lily," Giac said, stopping in front of a nice looking, metallic dark-red Lexus. "You must _never _do this, unless absolutely necessary."

With that, he bashed the driver's side window with a wooden club that he'd grown out of the ground.

He reached in and unlocked the door, sweeping broken glass off the upholstery. He unlocked the passenger's side door, and slid in. Lily did the same next to him.

"Thank you, _Grand Theft Auto," _he said, reaching under the steering-wheel and doing something that Lily couldn't see.

The car purred to life, and Giac sighed in relief before a klaxon began to ring out, making both of them jump.

"Shit," Giac said, wrenching the car into gear. He reversed onto the road, pushed the gear into drive, and sped off down the highway.

* * *

Percy and Argus were having the easiest time of all of them. Argus had led them to a car dealership, which was surprisingly not far away. In fact, it was entirely too surprising to be a coincidence, which was why Percy was grateful that Riptide had regenerated in his pocket.

The owner was very smooth-looking, with slicked back hair and hazel-coloured eyes, but he reeked of monster, and Percy didn't trust him in the slightest. However, the presence of Argus seemed to prevent the monster from doing anything, and soon they were cruising down the road in a Hummer*.

* * *

Nico grabbed his Iron sword, which had magically appeared on one of the vacant beds, having the same regenerative powers as Riptide, and followed Chiron out of the warmth of the pavilion. Other campers followed them, suspicious and wary of what may be waiting outside of the camp's (now non-existent) borders.

The only sound apart from the soft patter of rain—that was making everything worse, as usual—was the _clip-cloping_ of Chiron's hooves. And then, a sigh of relief as he realised who it was.

"Alice," Chiron said, "If I'm not mistaken. It's so nice to see you again."

The woman who had exited the driver's side door smiled at him, but it was tainted. Something was wrong.

"And Jakob!" Chiron said. "I'm glad to see you still alive and well."

He walked through the rain too, the water plastering his fringe to his forehead. His eyes were downcast.

_Someone's died, _Nico thought, suddenly. _That's the only reason they wouldn't be hoping they all made it back. Someone died, and either Alice or Jakob or both of them saw it happen._

"Who was it?" he asked them, moving forward in front of Chiron.

It was Jakob that answered, staring at Nico with sad, grey eyes. "Annabeth," he said quietly. "He—he—"

The rest of his words were cut off by a huge shock-wave that blew us off our feet, followed by a large _boom._

They were on the ground as the howling wind increased, and with it carried the tinge of maniacal laughter.

Dempsey was back.

* * *

***Hummer actually went bankrupt back in March, but I take poetic licence.**

Right, first of all. Sorry to people who guessed last chapter, but as we're on the business end of the story, I am not saying anything on his heritage anymore. Thank you for the reviews, and we only need **nine**** more **for a **total of 100**. :OOO

On a rather more serious note, you won't be seeing anymore fanfiction from me. Why?

**I'm leaving fanfiction.**

No, I have not gone mad; there is a reason. Last week, something happened to a close personal friend. And it made me think. What was I doing with my life? Writing? Sure, it's creative, but it's time to face facts. I **should be doing more with my life** than writing stories on published books. So, I'm quitting.

Don't worry, I'll **finish all of my stories first**. You'll see the end of this, but then it really will be the end.

I don't know whether I'm leaving permanently at this stage; maybe, maybe not. You will not, however, see new material from me for at **least ten months**, at the very earliest. I am in my final year of school; I want to see what I can make of my life. So, add me to author alert, and hope I come **back in 2011. :)**

If you still wish to contact me, go ahead. My **twitter** is **NovemberRising**, as is my **formspring**. My respective messenger clients (**AIM, MSN**, and **Y!IM**), are

intorqueo15 (at) aim(.)com;

intorqueo15 (at) YIM(.)com and;

ism(.)ffn (at) hotmail(.)com respectively;

(Remove all spaces and brackets) Don't hesitate to add me, I'd love to hear from you. (That includes you, Rachel, if you're reading this.)

On a slightly happier note, I just finished reading the latest _Artemis Fowl _book (_The Atlantis Complex_). What'd you think of it? I liked it, but thought it was quite different from the rest of the series.


	13. XIII

-cringes-

**I know.**

**On the plus side, now that I'm updating, you know that I've finished writing this story, and updates will be regular. :D**

* * *

We tumbled down the hill, falling in a heap at the bottom, the force of the shockwave so huge. Picking myself up, I groaned at the dozens of new brusises that would no doubt show themselves in the morning. If I lived that long. The rest of the campers were also getting up, some rubbing their heads, others reaching for weapons that were scattered around on the ground. They all knew that a fight was coming. Jakob stood up, helping up Alice, and Chiron managed to hip back up onto all fours, stretching and turning to face us. I nodded at them, and together we skirted up the hill. Having no desire to die at the hands of an unseen maniac, myself, Jakob, Alice and Chiron, keeping low to the ground whist the other campers scattered. My mind was reeling over what Jakob had insinuated.

_Annabeth, dead? It cannot be true. _But, Jakob seemed to have seen her die with his own eyes, and he'd given us no reason to doubt what he was saying in the past. I stored the bit of information for mulling over later though, because we had more important at the moment. Like for example, the murderous teenager currently laughing in the centre of what used to be the safest place for half-bloods in the world could be constituted as a 'problem'.

Dempsey was perched on the Big House, looking around his with a grin that was all teeth and no mirth.

Somehow—I don't know how—he spotted us, sheltered as we were by the ragged tree line at the crest of the hill.

"You going to come out and play, _heros_?" he asked in disdain, before extending his arm, palm up, and then clenching his fist.

Frost ran up the trees around us, icy tendrils sinking into the bark. With large cracks, the trees began to rain down, bits at a time, until we were surrounded by stumps, parts of tree matter, and open air. The guy didn't even break a sweat. I don't know how he got as strong as he did, but it was disturbing.

It was no use trying to hide. Instead, we made our way down to the clearing, where we stood in a defiant circle.

"What are you doing this?" I yelled at him, as the winds picked up, hurling rocks and debris at our legs.

Dempsey smiled, his blue eyes utterly lacking of warmth. "Why does anyone do anything? World domination, that's what I want," he said.

**

* * *

**

The Hummer arrived at the bottom of the hill at that moment, Argus skidding to a stop to avoid another car.

This one was a Lexus, a dark metallic red, and it was crumpled at the front, with dents in the hood, the engine steaming, and the windscreen shattered. The driver's and passenger's-side doors were open, the passenger's-side door almost ripped away from the car.

The driver's side was sprayed gruesomely with blood, the red of it standing out against the darker shade of the Lexus' paint job. There was a puddle of it, half-coagulated, next to the wheel, and lying against it was Giac, his face pale in death, a small knife clutched in his hand.

Percy bent down to check his pulse. "He's dead," he said to Argus, before shaking his head. One victim already. Only time would tell if there were anymore.

It seemed heartless to Percy, but they left Giac where he was— not know what else to do with him—and headed up the hill, to the valley that held the remnants of Camp Half-Blood.

Leaving the Hummer idling at the bottom of the hill, Percy and Argus crept to the top, ready to duck in case an errant ball of fire/water/ice/wind decided to fling itself over the top of the hill. At the top, they crouched and looked down.

The valley looked almost deserted; most of the demigods who were present at the camp were sheltering in the tree line, terrified of the teenager who was sitting on the roof of the Big House. There was a group of five at the base of it, along with other demigods who were preparing to fight.

Dempsey looked at Percy and Argus, and Argus shivered. There was something brutally cold about the guy's eyes.

"Ah, the rest of you join the party," Dempsey said, as a strong wind picked up Percy and Argus from the crest of the hill, and deposited them next to the group at the bottom of the hill, who consisted of Jakob, some old lady, Chiron and Nico. There was a little girl—Lily—standing behind them.

Percy looked around. Seven of them, and a few more demigods scattered around. The odds didn't look good.

"How is dear Giac, by the way?" Dempsey asked, smiling as though his was discussing the weather. Percy balled a fist. "Why are you doing this?" he asked the teenager crouched on the roof.

Dempsey rolled his eyes. "I told your friends that not even three minutes ago. It's because I want to rule the world, and to do that, I must summon my master. As to the reason I attacked your camp—" From behind him, he picked up the Golden Fleece, and thrust it up in front of him, the Fleece glinting in the light cast by the torches of the dining pavilion. "I needed the Fleece for sacrificial reasons, and if I happen to wipe out a camp of annoying half-gods…" He was still grinning nastily. "So much the better."

Nico blinked. "If you're so confident in your abilities, why haven't you attacked yet?"

Dempsey frowned. "So eager to die, are you? So be it." He pointed down, behind them. "She'll destroy you."

They looked behind them. The only person standing there was Lily, a surprised expression on her face.

"Who, me?" Lily asked, her tone also surprised.

"Yes, you," Dempsey snapped.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily finished, looking resolutely at him.

"Lily? She's innocent," Jakob said, going to stand behind her. "She would never—"

The explosion was so powerful, the ground rumbled. A huge flash of light burst for, etching itself into the retinas of the six, leaving bright pink after-images, and turning night to day. Jakob himself was blasted away from them, into a marble bust—

Ninety-four thousand feet in the air, Hermes winced as his statue was decapitated.

—and crashed into the lake, floating on the surface for a seconds, before sinking below. He didn't move, and his connection to Percy, usually so clear under water, was severed.

Lily stood in a torrent of golden fire, a wreath of blinding light around her black hair. She smiled. "He really shouldn't have touched me."

Dempsey laughed. "Puny heroes, meet Lily Xang, daughter of Ghia Xang and the Light Titan Hyperion."

It was suddenly clear to Percy. "You were the one who killed Giac, weren't you?"

Lily nodded. "He was an unnecessary risk, and I removed him. Of course, who would expect a little girl of murder? No one, until it was too late."

"Lily has been my faithful servant for fourty years, having no small regernative powers herself. Why do you think I knew hwere you were, every time? I even bribed that stupid LeBarbera to pretend that Lily was her slave, despite the fact that Lily could crush LeBarbera fifty times over without trying." He smiled again. Dempsey appeared to be having a nice night. How good for him. "And now she's going to crush you." He sat down cross-legged on the roof. "Take it away, Lily," he said, as though she was doing a high-school performance.

"My pleasure," she said, as Percy and Nico drew their swords, and Alice brought out a tube of what looked like lipstick. "How did that get in there?" she asked, a perplexed look on her face.

"That's Jakob's sword," Nico said. "Uncap it and it—" He never finished, because at that point Lily struck, a blazing human torch with a long sword, twice the height of her, made out of flames that flickered white and red.

"Ya-HOW," Nico said, trying to fight her off. "Hot, hot, hot! Little help, guys?"

Alice uncapped the tube of lipstick, and it grew into a spear, six and a half feet long, made out of solid gold with small emeralds around the hilt. Its tip was sharpened to a needle point, and Alice threw it, striking Lily in the leg. She howled with pain, and the spear magically flew back into Alice's hand, a wicked gleam present in the eye of the old lady.

While she was distracted, Nico managed to push Lily off of him, rolling to the side and lashing out with his sword as he went. Lily screamed out again as a long cut appeared on her back, and for a second her power flickered and then went out, leaving once again a small Asian girl on the grass. But then the fire roared up again, and the five—Nico and Percy with their swords, Alice with her spear, Chiron with his bow and Argus with stones and rocks, anything he could throw—charged.

Lily shot tongues of flame at her attackers, but Nico force up a wall of earth, and the fireballs burst harmlessly against them. Alice threw her spear again, and Argus lobbed a large ball of dirt he'd packed together.

Percy rushed forward with his sword, and swiped at her while she was distracted by Argus and Alice. Riptide hit her in the shoulder with a sickening thunk, and Lily bellowed in agony, her left arm hanging useless at her side. Percy was knocked back by a blast of super heated wind, but landed on his feet, skidding to a stop with Riptide still in his hand.

_Water, is what we need, _he thought. _Lily's not the only person who can control the elements. _

Standing there, he closed his eyes as the others attacked—Nico slashing where he could, Chiron firing arrows and Alice with her magic spear. It was at that point—though Percy didn't see it—that Lily morphed into her true form—a tall woman with imposing eyes and dark hair that writhed as she attacked with her flaming sword.

Concentrating on the water of the lake, Percy willed it to become restless, small waves forming on the surface, and a huge bubble of epic proportions rose from the surface, carrying inside of it Jakob, and hovered over the lake. Slowly, exerting rather a large strength of will, Percy brought it over the strawberry fields, over the cabins, and finally over the battle. Dempsey must have seen what Percy was doing, because a strong wind was now buffeting against the sphere of water, and it was all Percy could do to push against it. In addition, the wind was so cold that it was partially freezing the water, and Percy had little dominion over ice. Damn Dempsey was strong. Percy could feel blackness pushing at the edge of his vision, but if there was one thing he couldn't do, it was pass out.

Percy settled for giving one last ditch attempt at pushing it over Lily's head, and then let go. Dempsey let loose another cold blast air, so the ball froze solid.

It hit Lily in the head, melting instantly in her fiery aura. The water splashed down on top of her, and the fire instantly went out. Lily the woman was soaked, water running in rivulets over her, steam rising off of her clothes.

"You—you!" Lily spluttered as Nico struck, thrusting forward with his sword. Two sounds—a sickening crunch, a choked off gurgle, and Lily collapsed to the grass, her fire out forever. She was dead.

We stood there, breathing heavily, exerted by the battle we'd just had, and fearing the one that was about to come.

Dempsey leapt lightly off of the Big House, leaving the Fleece on top of it, and touched down onto the ground with a crouch. When he straightened, wiping grass off of his pants, he looked at them, his face expressionless, though there was a trace of surprise in his empty blue eyes.

He impatiently swept a long blond bang behind one ear, and smiled at them.

"So, Lily failed. I will admit that I am surprised," Dempsey said. "Oddly enough, I feel almost sad. But now you have to face me. And I can guarantee, you aren't going to survive it." He looked at them, almost quietly. "Prepare to die, as Giac, Jakob, Annabeth, and all the other faceless victims have before you."

_Annabeth?_

* * *

**For Li: I'm back, dearest. You can find the reasons on my other profile. Expect to see me soon. :)**

**For everyone: There were errors, since my beta appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth. Ah, well. I'll go back and fix my errors at some other time. **

**Will our heroes survive? Find out next Friday. :)**

**By the way, can I say, thank you so fucking much. When I set out to write this story, I certainly didn't envision it would be this great. Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites. You mean the entire world to me, and I want to hug each and every one of you. Out of all of my stories, this is my favourite, and this is probably based on my readers. Thank you.**


	14. XIV

**Next chapter. **

**I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the Hero of Olympus series. If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't be writing this on a $900 laptop.**

* * *

Jakob's body lay to the left of them, unmoving, as we took up attack stance against Dempsey, who stood in front of us, smiling as usual. All the previous rage he'd shown toward us had dissipated, and all he was doing now was smiling.

_It's because he knows that his plan is coming closer to fruition. Oh, and he probably enjoys killing people. _

Percy, meanwhile, was reeling internally. _Dead. She's not dead. She cannot be dead. Surely she's not dead._

A group of other demigods were converging on the other side of the Big House, led by Will Solace of the Apollo cabin. They came closer, and closer, and closer…

Dempsey whirled around and struck, ice, sleet and snow erupting from his finger tips, together with an icy cold wind. The lucky demigods were thrown clear by the wind. The unlucky ones were frozen together, in various positions of battle.

It was at that point we charged too, hoping to catch him unaware. No such luck. Dempsey flung around again, and with a snarl he let loose a torrent of freezing water. I dived to the side, as did Chiron and Alice. Percy however, stood there, facing the incoming torrent.

At the last moment, before it was about to hit him, he changed its course, sending it flying back into Dempsey's face, which knocked him off of his feet, coughing and spluttering.

We dived forward, intent on striking while Dempsey was incapacitated, even for a second. We reached his form, and began to attack him while he was on the ground. But every wound we inflicted healed, the cuts slowly closing and scarring, before disappearing all together.

"That's enough," Dempsey said, before blowing us all backward from his form. He stood up, and then turned to us to speak.

"I am not afflicted with Hubris," he said. "There is a chance, slim though it may be, of you defeating me. However…"

From his pocket, he produced a small vial, filled with a roiling silver that was neither liquid or gas.

"This," he said, holding it up so that we could see it, "Is the essence of a child of Athena, the last essence I need to consume in order to become invincible, for lack of a better word." He jerked his head at Jakob. "This one stood by and watched as I took it." He spoke only to Percy for the next part. "Your 'brother' watched as I stole your precious Annabeth's soul. I was… unable to take it at the time, but I figure that now will be as good a time as any to bond with it."

Percy's face contorted with pain. "She's… dead?"

Dempsey shrugged. "Good as."

And with that, he unclasped the vial and tipped his head back, angling it over his mouth. The matter poured silently from the vial, and dripped slowly into Dempsey's mouth. Finally, it was all consumed, and Dempsey threw the vial against the Big House, where it shattered.

He stood there, as did we, frozen. Then he smiled wickedly, and yelled, his voice echoing high over the valley. He grew taller, easily seven feet tall, and his pupils became shot through with gold.

"So this is what it feels like to be immensely powerful?" he asked, studying his nails. He then looked up at us. "I like it."

He flicked his fingers, and we were blown backwards by a force that cracked _air._ Chiron hit a tree, Alice was flung back over the ridge, and I came to rest behind a rock pile.

_We have no hope of beating this guy. None at all. But we have to try. We always have to try…_

The next half an hour was a blur, a jerky film full of pictures that did not quite belong together, moving along oddly, missing out bits and pieces.

There was Percy, directing the water of the lake to hit Dempsey, but having it freeze at the last moment...

There was Alice throwing her spear, only to have it knocked away like a toothpick...

Chiron with his arrows, the heads not piercing Dempsey's skin once...

All of the other demigods, who had come out of the tree line with assorted weapons, all flung away by the force that Dempsey commanded effortlessly, without even trying.

We were all going to die.

* * *

Jakob, meanwhile, was floating in darkness. Quite why he was still alive, he couldn't fathom. Was he even still alive? Was this the afterlife? Cold darkness surrounding him like oil.

No, Jakob knew exactly what the afterlife was. He didn't see security ghouls, a big transperant dog and the Lord of the Underworld.

So, he was still alive then. Maybe.

"They still need you, you know."

A scene formed around me, mosaic tiles glued together one by one, smooth and solid. I was once again in the pavilion where I met Aphrodite. Only this time it wasn't Aphrodite occupying the throne at the end of the room.

Instead, sitting in the throne, was Athena, looking intensely at me. It took me a couple of seconds to figure out that she was waiting for me to answer.

"Oh, yeah, of course I know. But I'm dead, aren't I?" I asked. Her lips quirked.

"No, you are not, though if you will not rejoin the battle, you soon will be. Your friends are outnumbered and divided, shocked over the death of my daughter."

"Annabeth," I said numbly. "It's my fault she died."

Athena looked at him. "No it isn't, child. It was the fault of nobody but the Fates. You need to go back so that the others don't join her."

I nodded. "I have to do it… It's my duty, to help make Annabeth's death something meaningful, like she didn't die in vain…?" The rest came out like a question.

Athena nodded. "Correct. Now, I'm afraid, it's time for you to go. The Gods knew this day was coming, had known for hundreds of years. But, as usual, I am the only one who thought; planned." In that instant, I knew how scary it would be to face off with Athena. Because you wouldn't win. Ever. "Now, child, I am not without my own powers, and you shall see the gifts I have given you when you return to the land of the living."

I nodded, and then posed the question I'd wanted to ask since I'd met her.

"Why, Athena?"

She seemed to understand.

"Because you were born for this," she said, a slight trace of sympathy in her voice. "I'm… sorry."

And with that, I was hurtled head-long out of my dream, back into real life.

* * *

It was utter chaos. There was screaming, and crying, tinged with horrible laughter and the clash of metal on metal. If Dante's _Inferno _had a soundtrack, this is what it would sound like.

I leapt from the ground, surprised at how well I felt. Seriously, it was like I had just gotten out of a hot spa. Athena's gift, but that wasn't all. In my hand was a celestial bronze sword, etched with scenes that Jakob didn't have time to work out.

I ran forwards, towards the battle scene, dodging flurries of ice and snow, and the bodies of fellow demigods.

Dempsey was within striking distance as I lunged forward, intent on driving the sword into Dempsey's body. Dempsey himself had other ideas though, and the instant that my blade touched Dempsey I was blown back so far that I crashed back into the lake for the second time that night.

* * *

Everything was bubbles and disorientation. Then I surfaced, and bobbed there in the lake, the naiads staring at me in horror.

Then a strange thing happened. A massive, stupendous shockwave blasted the area, flattening trees and utterly disintegrating structures. Demigods were shoved sky high, smashing into the lake and land. The lake rolled backwards, and for a moment the bed was visible, before it came crashing back in.

Apparently Dempsey had finished playing.

He stood, glowing with blue light, surrounded by wicked looking shards of… ice. He chuckled again, and the ice started to shoot out of his body, continuous lives of razor-sharp weapons. There were cries of agony all around, and I knew that there were going to be deaths tonight. A lot of deaths.

But of course there were. I'd seen myself, even in that brief instant. Dempsey could kill them all eight times over without drawing breath. It was hopeless.

That's when it happened.

Dempsey's growling chuckle, which had been part of the backdrop of the entire battle, stuttered, and halted. Silence fell on the valley, unbroken by another apart from the howling wind. Then another sound: Screaming.

Dempsey was screaming, the sound whipping through the valley like daggers.

He was lit up again, but this time with silver, which flickered around him like errant flames. He was raised off the ground, hovering several inches above the flattened grass. The ice-blades faltered and then dropped to the ground, splashing into the lake around me.

Then it was over, and Dempsey was on the ground, collapsed.

There were other, shadowy figures creeping to the shore, the devastated valley lit only by the moon and stars, which had come out from behind a cloud. The sky rumbled as I reached land, shaking my hair like a dog.

"What happened?" I muttered to myself, walking slowly forwards to the ring of frozen grass, in which Dempsey lay. I was joined by others—Alice, bleeding from her arm, Percy, a large gash along the cheek, other demigods with various injuries, and in one severe case, a broken arm. There was no sign of Nico or Chiron. Maybe they were knocked out. Maybe they weren't.

Dempsey did not move as we approached, passing the ring of frozen grass. We stopped, Alice and Percy behind me, just one meter from Dempsey's still motionless body.

How long we stood there, I don't know. It was only mere seconds, but it felt like hours. In front of us lay the one who had killed so many before—and probably many tonight. He was a murderer, an ancient, youthful-looking evil. But I couldn't bring myself to shove the sword lying loosely in my hand into Dempsey's neck. I just couldn't.

And then Dempsey inhaled, and sat up.

He looked old. That was the only way to describe him. Those dull blue eyes looked like they'd seen a thousand years, none of them good. The lines around the mouth that told of ancient weariness.

"So it seems I've failed. The soul… rejected me." He coughed. "All I wanted was to raise an ancient and powerful evil to wreak havoc on the Earth." His face twisted in anger. "I _hate _you all." He said, and coughed, once, before collapsing again. After a couple of minutes, I leaned forward and pressed two fingers against his neck. No pulse.

Dempsey was dead.

I exhaled sharply. "He's dead."

"And thank God for that," Alice said, dropping her spear to her side. "Now we can work on fixing this place."

They turned, and that's when Dempsey struck. In his dying act, he used all of his remaining energy to craft a thick block of ice, which he fashioned into a cone. He sent this flying at Jakob, and spent, collapsed, turning to dust.

"Watch out!" Alice tried to warn. But it was too late. Jakob twisted, eyes widening in alarm as the razor sharp cone sliced the air towards him, aimed at his stomach. Then something knocked Jakob sideways, and he hit the ground, hard.

He sat up, spitting out earth, and turned around, to a stunned silence. Dempsey had become a pile of grey dust, but that wasn't what they were staring at.

Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, favoured mortal of the Gods, was lying on his stomach, deep red blood pooling out of his back where the cone of ice stuck out.

He wasn't moving.

* * *

**I was watching _Big Bang Theory_, so as a result, my editing may be a little patchy. Shel-bot. XDDDD**

**Epilogue coming soon.**

**In addition, what happened to my reviewers? I got none last chapter. :(**


	15. Epilogue

**IT'S FINALLY OVER! :O**

**This is the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed the story, and I hope the ending is sufficiently good.**

**As for The Curse of Achilles, I thought I stated that was removed. **

–**scratches head-**

**Thanks especially to Abigail Thalia La Rue, whose kind words inspired this last chapter, I think.**

**I'm not going for cliché, but if that's how it comes out, I'm sorry.**

* * *

****In keeping with the style of Rick Riordan, I gave Pollux a name that is fitting of his heritage. Since his father is the God of Wine, I chose 'Hunter' because of the Hunter Valley, which is a large, wine-making region of New South Wales. You may have heard of the Barossa Valley; I thought 'Barossa' sounded a little too (pardon the pun) fruity, thus ****'Hunter' was chosen.**

* * *

The entire valley had been flattened by Dempsey. The magical borders were blown apart, though they were restored fairly easily by the Golden Fleece. Peleus had been killed guarding it, and the dragon's death wasn't the only one. Many, many demigods had died over the course of the last week. People like Will Solace, Giac Letterman, Pollux Hunter—Dionysus' last living child—and many, many other demigods. And, of course, Annabeth Chase, and Percy Jackson.

Jakob was helping with the wounded, clearing away rubble, anything, anything at all to avoid having to think about what happened. Four people he knew and cared about at camp were dead. He didn't know why they were dead, and he wasn't, and he didn't care. All he wanted was to keep the terrible ache in his chest at bay by not thinking about it.

However, when work stopped for the next night, he didn't have a choice. Hundreds of sleeping bags had been lain out, under the stars, courtesy of the gods. The demigods and assorted mythical creatures who had survived were curled up in them, having already eaten dinner. It was peaceful, but Jakob couldn't sleep.

_Why? _he asked the heavens. _Why them, and not me?_

Alas, the heavens didn't answer, and it was closer to sunrise than sunset when he finally drifted off to sleep. And in his sleep, he was treated to a cinematic view of how his life came to be.

* * *

Mount Olympus. Two years ago.

_It was dark on Mount Olympus, the snow falling steadily. The hill was lit by lights, but most of the ethereal beings that inhabited the place were inside the darkened buildings, off the streets. _

_Two individuals, however, who were not asleep were crossing the bridge from the elevator that took them from the lobby of the Empire State Building. They stepped onto the brick walkway on the mountain top as the elevator shot down from the heavens, back into New York. _

"_Why are we here again?" the taller one, the male, asked. _

"_Because my mother instructed us to come," said the girl at his side, in a long cloak; it was cold on Olympus._

"_Oh, right."_

_They walked up the hill towards a darkened temple, off of the main pavement. The male frowned as they came to a stop in front of it._

"_Are you sure it was here?" he asked. _

"_I'm… pretty sure," she said, trying the door. It swung open, and the two entered. _

_The room was columned, roofless. There were images of owls and spears everywhere, and in the middle, a brazier, smoking gently. At the far end was a huge stone throne, empty of anything. _

_They two stepped up to brazier, and the female brought a bunch of grapes, fat and red, out of her coat. She dropped them in the fire. _

"_I see that you came." The voice, from the end of the room, made them both jump. In the throne, where there had originally been nothing except air, was now a woman with grey eyes and hair much like the girl's._

_Fitting, for the girl was her daughter._

"_Mother," Annabeth said, bowing at the foot of the throne. The male—Percy—did the same._

"_Rise." The word was an instruction. They did._

"_What is it that you wish, Mother," asked Annabeth._

"_My child, troubled times are brewing. I know it has only been eight months since the Titan Uprising, but something else is to come. I wish to inform you, because, as usual, my father won't do anything about it. He prefers to pretend it doesn't exist until it's almost too late."_

_There was a rumble of thunder overhead._

"_So…what was the prophesy? It was a prophesy, wasn't it?"_

"_It was. However, I am forbidden to tell you what it is. However, I can tell you to be on your guard, and to prepare for what's coming."_

"_That's it?" Annabeth's voice was incredulous. _

_Athena regarded her daughter with searching eyes. "That is it."_

_Annabeth made a noise of disgust, but Athena ignored it._

"_Now," she said. "I need to speak to Perseus, alone. Please go wait outside, Annabeth. We will be done in a couple of minutes."_

"_Go," Percy said, kissing Annabeth on the cheek. "I won't be long."_

_Annabeth nodded, and walked out of the temple. The sound of the door shutting reverberated around the walls._

"_What do you want to talk to be about, Lady Athena?" Percy asked._

_Athena pursed her lips. "I don't need to speak to you at all. That's not what I want." She snapped her fingers, and Percy collapsed to the floor, still._

_Athena waved her finger, and a trail of dark blue erupted from Percy's midsection, trailing through the air like a ribbon. Athena bought this in front of her, and combined it with another ribbon, this one of silver. The two combined ribbons flashed a startling gold, rippled once, and then vanished. _

_The process was over in about a minute. Athena snapped her fingers again, and Percy woke up._

"_Who—why am I lying on the floor?" he asked Athena, standing up and brushing himself off._

"_That doesn't matter. You may go now," she said, waving her hand dismissively._

_Percy, extremely confused, just nodded, and walked out of the temple, rejoining Annabeth. And then, bombarded with a barrage of questions he didn't have any answers to, he set off down the hill, back towards modern civilisation._

_And Athena, for her part, had what she wanted. She had combined the DNA of a god and the son of a God; birthed from this was an exceedingly powerful demigod that was needed to help stop Dempsey from—two years later—trying to release Ouranos, and taking over the world. _

_What she didn't foresee—couldn't have, was the Annabeth soul corrupted Dempsey. And it did so for the simple reason that Dempsey had ingested two souls instead of one. The greater whole—Annabeth—and a smaller part; her unborn child, at just eleven weeks old when she was absorbed. This tiny consciousness was enough to tip the scales in the demigods' favour. In the end, the unborn child—Jakob—wasn't needed. _

_Jakob's mother, the one who carried him for nine months, was unimportant. What was important was that Athena ended up with a baby, nine months later. And then, by her own design, she made him grow to the age of sixteen in one year, formatted his memory so that he couldn't remember anything previously, and then sent him to Sydney Airport, where the Mist was enough to convince him—and everyone else—of his back story._

_In short, despite being alive for only a year and a half, Jakob Cilliani—his biological mother's last name—was ready to save the world from an imminent threat._

* * *

Jakob woke, sweating in the sleeping bag. It was almost dawn, the sky on the horizon a faint glow. And he knew he couldn't stay.

Wiping sweat off of his brow, he dragged himself upright, and set off, up the hill, knowing nothing except that he couldn't stay, couldn't face all these people after all those deaths, and the realisation that he shouldn't even exist. He needed to go away, far away. And so, he did.

* * *

Percy, meanwhile, was standing in front of the judges in the Underworld. He was an important case, and Hades himself was chairing the court. On the jury sat King Midas, Shakespeare and Charles Darwin.

"Hello, _boy," _Midas hissed when Percy was summoned forth. "I hope we make your stay in the Underworld… enjoyable."

"Midas, quiet. We will not let personal prejudices get in the way," Darwin admonished, before looking towards Hades. "Will we?"

Hades looked imperiously down at the teenager, who stared steadily back up.

"We will not." Hades' voice reverberated around chamber, making the withered trees shiver and buffeting some of the weaker security ghouls so they floated backward.

"Court is in session," he said, and the ghoul sitting on a bench beside him started to tap away on a laptop.

* * *

They argued for a couple of hours; Midas against, Darwin for, and Shakespeare impartial. They were in agreement that he did not deserve to go to the Fields of Punishment (Though Midas was not easily swayed), nor Asphodel. It was eventually agreed to be Elysium, with Shakespeare and Darwin voting for, and Midas against. However, this was when Hades leaned forward, clasping his hands and looking down his nose at the figure before him.

"How old are you, boy?" Hades asked. His voice was quiet, but there was an unmistakable air of authority in it, one that nobody dared to ignore.

"I'd have been twenty in a couple of months," Percy said, speaking for the first time throughout the entire exchange.

Hades sat back. "So young," he said, still regarding Percy.

"I don't like you, boy," Hades said, plainly, and there was no emotion in his voice; just a statement of fact. "You are the living memento of the promise that my brothers broke, a promise they forced me into, only to opt out whenever they felt like it. Still, even I can see when something is fair or not. And your death is not. Therefore, I am going to grant you something I haven't done in two thousand years. I am going to give you your life back. I am going to allow you to walk among the living again, unhindered by the dead."

"I don't want it."

"What?" Hades' voice was quiet; the calm before a storm that wipes out large portions of the world.

"I don't want to be among the living."

"Why not."

"Because Annabeth isn't there," Percy said, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "And I don't want to live in a world where she doesn't exist."

"So, allow me to get this straight…" Hades leaned back and glared at Percy. "You do not want my gift, the gift that I last bestowed on a biblical figure two thousand years ago who spent three days in the Underworld, because of some _girl_?"

"That's right, yeah."

Hades inclined his neck. "You don't know then?"

"Probably not?" Percy said, allowing some hope to creep into his tone.

"Ah," Hades said. "When that boy consumed Athena's daughter's soul, it was corrupted somehow—I'm sure she'll know. At any rate, it cause the other souls inside him to spill out. That is why he was so weak, at the end; the souls were all that were keeping him going. Without them to sustain him, he crumbled to dust."

"And the souls?" asked Percy, hardly daring to hope.

"Most of them have past their natural time on Earth, and so have returned to their rightful place; the Underworld," Hades continued. "However, two souls, one of the child of Poseidon, and the other of Athena, were returned to their rightful bodies. My brother's child is now fifty years old, physically. His soul—and his body—have been restored to the point at which he entered Dempsey; fifteen years old. As for the child of Athena… well, I think you know."

"So, she's alive?" Percy asked. "Annabeth, she exists again?"

"Yes. And so, I ask you again. Will you take my gift?" he asked, and Percy realised that this was the longest he'd ever spoken with a God.

"Absolutely, Lord Hades," Percy said, beaming. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Very well," he said, nodding to the ghoul that was typing away on the laptop. She finished typing, and closed the lid, and both ghoul and computer melted into black mist, whisping out of the roofless courtroom.

"You have done well," Hades said, half to himself. "Better than anyone would have expected…"

He snapped his fingers, and the air began to ripple. Then Percy was sucked through a dark tunnel, and opened his mouth to try and take a breath in the oppressive darkness, which pressed in on all sides—

He hit the ground, hard, knocking the wind out of him. He lay there for a couple of seconds, fight for his breath back, before sitting up, and looking around.

He was lying on soft green grass, at the bottom of a hill. There were bit of debris spread around, and the sky was a deep, forget-me-not blue. He was definitely out of the Underworld, where the roof was a horrid, craggy brown, cloaked with mist.

He sat out, and then got to his feet, climbing the hill. He already knew where he was, of course. The bottom of Camp Half-Blood, on the outside.

He got to the top of the hill, and looked down. There was a massive crowd of people below him, all congregated in one spot surrounding Chiron, and _her. _She had ragged clothing, stormy eyes, and wild blond hair. And she was very much alive.

Percy took off running down the hill, and she spotted him, shoving her way through the crowd of people towards him.

They met midway, crashing into each other, a melee of flinging limbs and wild smiles. He crushed her into his chest, and kissed her, forcefully in the mouth.

The others fell silent, moved by the scene. And, in the barrier line, another person with untidy black hair watched the scene too, a faint smile on his face.

Then he turned and walked away.

* * *

_**Fin.**_


End file.
